Accountability Is Only Way to Restore Trust – Marie Collins

By Michael Kelly
Irish Catholic
February 7, 2012

http://www.irishcatholic.ie/site/content/accountability-only-way-restore-trust-%E2%80%93-marie-collins

Prominent abuse campaigner Marie Collins has insisted that victims of abuse can only begin to find healing when there is a full acknowledgement of the hierarchy's failure to tackle abuse and not just an apology for the abuse itself.

Mrs Collins, who was abused as a child by Fr Paul McGennis, said her experience of not being listened to by the Church when she came forward to report her abuse created a loss of faith, not in God, but in the leadership of the Church.

She told hundreds of bishops and religious superiors from all over the world that "the final death of any respect that might have survived in me towards my religious leaders came after my abuser's conviction," she said.

"I learned that the diocese had discovered, just months after my abuse, that this priest was abusing children in the hospital but did nothing about it except move him to a new parish," she said.

"How do I regain my respect for the leadership of my Church? Apologising for the actions of the abusive priests is not enough. There must be acknowledgement and accountability for the harm and destruction that has been done to the life of victims and their families by the often deliberate cover up and mishandling of cases by their superiors before I or other victims can find real peace and healing," she said.

She told delegates about her experience of reporting the abuse to Archbishop of Dublin Cardinal Desmond Connell. "the archbishop considered my abuse 'historical' so felt it would be unfair to tarnish the priest's 'good name' now," she said.

"I have heard this argument from others in leadership in the Catholic Church and always there is blindness to the current risk to children from these men," Mrs Collins said.

"The priest who had sexually assaulted me was protected by his superiors from prosecution," she said. "He was left for months in his parish ministry which included mentoring children preparing for confirmation – the safety of those children ignored by his superiors."

She said that only when there was a culture of accountability for the mishandling and cover-up could trust be restored.