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	Little Comfort in Pope's Apology News 24 March 21, 2010 http://www.news24.com/Content/World/News/1073/969bf69f416745b3a2ec204a0740be19/21-03-2010-05-36/Little_comfort_in_popes_apology IRELAND, Dublin -- Worshippers attending morning mass in Ireland on Sunday welcomed the pope's condemnation of priests' sexual abuse of children, but many said it would not prevent people turning away from the church. Pope Benedict XVI's pastoral letter expressed shame and remorse at a wave of revelations over the past five years of abuse committed by those entrusted with the care of young people in Ireland, in cases stretching back decades. But it was his strongly worded criticism of Irish bishops for their role in trying to suppress the claims of victims that struck a chord with people at the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary in Harold's Cross in south Dublin. Eileen Keane, 45, a mother of 8-year-old twins, said: "Some of the higher-ups in the church have been hypocritical, way up there pontificating down on top of us." "There is no problem with a lot of the regular priests. They are all right. It's just the guys further up. They seem to have covered a lot of their tracks." Disillusioned Eamonn Bannon, a 45-year-old truck driver, said he was "totally disillusioned" by the Catholic Church and the pope's expression of remorse was insufficient to restore his faith. "I think the apology at this stage is not enough. They need to be taking action against the people who were responsible (for the abuse) and they are not doing that." "There is a lot of passing the buck and they are not doing anything to show the people they are really serious. Action is what is needed, not just words." Parish priest Father Gerry Kane, who spoke to the congregation in general terms about the pope's 5 000-word message, told AFP "there is an awful lot of hurt out there among different people", but he was pleased by the letter. "We will have to see where it takes us. My feeling is, don't deny it and don't wallow in it. We are here for a reason. We are here for our families, we are here for our faith, we are here to pray." The church in Harold's Cross attracts families and younger people who have moved into the area in the past five years, changing the profile of what was formerly an old working-class district. Bad apples A few kilometres away, the mainly elderly parishioners braving a biting cold wind for the morning mass at the Church of St Paul of the Cross in Mount Argus were more reluctant to point the finger at senior church figures. Mary O'Connell, a pensioner, said there were "bad apples in every basket" and the Catholic Church was no different. "The priests have nothing to do with me coming to mass, I come because I want to come," she said. "The pope's letter could lead to a renewal in the church but there are some people I don't think he is ever going to please. Like everything else, it will please some and not others." Betty Redmond said she was afraid the abuse scandals would only accelerate the trend of ageing congregations, as the youth increasingly turned away from the institution which has underpinned life in Ireland for centuries. Too late "We just feel so let down by it all. Hopefully the pope's letter will help," she said. "What has been happening is just giving the young people an excuse not to go to mass. They said to you 'we told you it was all rubbish'." Thomas Pierce, an unemployed man in his fifties, said the pope had missed an opportunity to deliver the message in person in Ireland, rather than issuing it from the Vatican. "People, particularly young people, will continue to turn away from the church. It's the older people who will have to have the strength to carry it through and even a lot of them will fall away as well." "I think the pope's message is coming too late. And he has a damned cheek not coming over here in person to deliver it. That would have gone a long way, it definitely would have appealed to young people."
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