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	Voice of Abuse Victims "Finally Heard" UTV January 21, 2011 http://www.u.tv/News/Voice-of-clerical-abuse-victims-finally-heard/76352ff6-a2e9-4645-8da4-fc855db275d9 [with video] The voice of clerical abuse victims is finally being heard, members of an NI survivors group have said, following a meeting with a party of senior Catholic churchmen from the Vatican. An Apostolic Visitation to Ireland was announced by Pope Benedict last year, following the publication of reports into abuse in Catholic institutions in the Republic. Led by retired archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the party of six visitors met with a group of clerical abuse survivors in Newry on Friday. The survivors said they had feared the occasion was just for show, but as they emerged from the retreat house in Dromantine after the talks, they said they believe they now have a voice. "We went in a bit doubtful, but we do know that we had his ear," said Margaret McGuckin, who was abused at the Nazareth Sisters orphanage in Belfast, aged three. "It's important we are being listened to because we were never listened to all our lives. That is another abuse in our lives, it's like being shunned, rejected all over again - made fun of and ridiculed. Now we've had enough of that. "We told him that we really needed someone that we could trust, someone that was really going to deliver for us." The panel of visitors have held meetings across Ireland, aimed at helping the victims of abuse and ensuring it doesn't happen again. "Our voice to be heard is what we need," Paul Toner told UTV. He said it has taken him over 40 years to speak out about the abuse he suffered in Nazareth Lodge when he was seven. "We want an apology - a heartfelt one." John McCourt, from the victims group, added: "We have asked the Cardinal to acknowledge the fact that something went drastically wrong with the system of care, from the 1930s forward and maybe even before." Last year the Pope apologised to all victims of child sex abuse by Catholic priests in Ireland, after the Ryan report catalogued the sexual and physical abuse suffered by countless victims in the south. The Stormont Executive has also announced an inquiry into historic institutional child abuse in Northern Ireland. Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness also met with Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor to discuss issues related to cases of historic child abuse. "The abuse of many children and vulnerable young people in institutions over many years and the totally insensitive manner in which this was dealt with has cast a dark cloud over Irish society," Mr McGuinness said. "The Papal initiative is an important part of the process of putting the needs of victims' first. Those who have perpetrated such heinous crimes must not be protected, but must be subject to the full rigours of the legal process." He added that the Stormont investigation must be concluded "as soon as possible" so that the victims "are not subject to further and unnecessary suffering".
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