Diarmuid Martin Claims Irish Catholicism at 'Breaking Point'

By Henry McDonald
The Guardian
March 3, 2012

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/03/diarmuid-martin-irish-catholicism-vatican

Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, will warn that the paedophile priest controversy is far from over for the Irish church.

Archbishop of Dublin is to make a frank admission about church's failings over the child sex abuse scandals

Irish Catholicism is at "breaking point" over the child sex abuse scandals involving the clergy, the leader of Ireland's largest Catholic diocese will say on Sunday.

The archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, will also warn that the paedophile priest controversy is far from over for the Irish church.

In a frank admission of the church's failings on American primetime TV , Martin will say: "There's a real danger today of people saying: 'the child abuse scandal is over, let's bury it, let's move on'.

"It isn't over. Child protection and the protection of children is something which will go on for the rest of our lives and into the future because the problems are there."

Regarded as one of the most progressive thinkers in the Irish Catholic church, Martin will appear on CBS's top current affairs show 60 Minutes. He is one of the most senior Catholics to openly criticise the way the hierarchy has handled the abuse allegations.

The head of Dublin's Catholics will tell the programme that "now is not the time to forget" and that the "problems are still there" when it comes to the scandals that have rocked the church and undermined its political power and authority in the Irish Republic.

The interview comes as Irish Catholic leaders wait to hear the response of the pope over an invitation for him to attend the International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin this June.

Archbishop Martin has warned that the church in Ireland needs to make further progress and carry out major reforms before any visit by Pope Benedict could take place.

When Martin was appointed archbishop of Dublin he handed over 65,000 files to the Murphy commission, which was tasked with investigating clerical child abuse in the Irish capital. In his sermons he also confronted the church's leadership over the way they covered up past child abuse scandals by moving priests suspected of being paedophiles into new parishes in other parts of Ireland or abroad. He also met organisations representing the victims of clerical abuse.

The controversy has also produced a major diplomatic spat between the Vatican and the present Irish government. The Fine Gael-Labour coalition is planning to close the Irish embassy to the Vatican while the taoiseach Enda Kenny last year launched an unprecedented attack on the Holy See for the way it mishandled the child abuse crisis in Ireland.