BishopAccountability.org
	Distress Vatican Style National Survivor Advocates Coalition July 15, 2011 http://nationalsurvivoradvocatescoalition.wordpress.com/editorials/ The headline in the Irish Times read “Papal Nuncio ‘distressed’ by Report. That would be the Cloyne Report which revealed the Vatican’s subterfuge of the publicly proclaimed Irish Bishops’ 1996 procedures mandating the reporting of all allegations of clerical sexual abuse to the police. The nuncio, the Pope’s direct delegate on the ground in Ireland, made his “distressed” comment after a woodshed meeting to which he had been summoned by the Republic of Ireland’s Foreign Minister. These are Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza’s words: “I am very distressed myself again by the failures in assuring the protection of children within the church despite all the good work that has been done.“ For the people of James Joyce, Frank O’Connor, George Bernard Shaw, and William Butler Yeats, words matter. “Distressed” indeed. It is Leanza who time and time again dismissed requests from state investigators and refused to testify before a Parliament committee. The nuncio said he wanted to stress “the total commitment of the Holy See for its part to taking all the necessary measures to assure protection.” The hollow echo you hear is from the papal phrase “do everything possible” for victims of sexual abuse. The Vatican in a secret letter to Irish bishops shrunk the force of the Framework Document’s rules to a “study document” sending a clear signal to the Irish bishops to continue business as usual. The Cloyne Report exposes the Vatican’s public lip service, private and steel fisted opposition to mandatory reporting. Leanza said after the meeting he had just received a copy of the report and would “bring a copy of the report to the attention of the Holy See immediately.” We could say this is laughable but we will say that it stretches the credulity index of any reasonable person to believe that there were not enough copies of the Cloyne Report, at the moment Leanza spoke, being read by the Pope and Vatican officials that the Borgia Apartments could not have been redecorated with them. Irish political leaders are so fired up and angry at the Cloyne Report on top of the Ferns, Murphy and Ryan reports that they are proposing legislation for mandatory reporting that would include breaking the seal of confession. There will be those who use the seal as a red herring to avoid the real problem – the dug in resistance to reporting, the preference of cleric over child, the absolute refusal to come clean and address the problem, the above the law snobbery. And how long is the list of abusers who have gone to confession with announcements of their rape and sodomy of children? Catholics who will occupy pew space this weekend need to hear Leanza’s words in their heads as they say the Creed. Is this “one, holy, catholic and apostolic church” looks like, sounds like and acts like? The real, supreme and ultimate pastor, the Good Shepherd, not the shepherd who uses Roman numerals as a last name, showed us how to act in distress. If a blueprint is needed that would be by over turning tables, taking up a whip and driving out evil. — Kristine Ward, Chair, NSAC Contact: KristineWard@hotmail.com 937-272-0308
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