"Boring" Audit Answers Prayers of Battle-weary Church Dioceses

Irish Independent
April 25, 2013

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/garry-osullivan-boring-audit-answers-prayers-of-battleweary-church-dioceses-29220787.html

IN his Northern peace process memoir 'Making Peace', Senator George Mitchell mused that he hoped he could go with his son into the Stormont Assembly 10 years after the Good Friday Agreement and be bored by the proceedings – a sign of normalcy in democratic politics.

Reading the six reviews of Irish Catholic dioceses by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSCCI) – its third tranche – that same sense of 'normalcy' is evident as the clean bills of health, notwithstanding historic problems, are handed out.

Only Clogher diocese came in for some criticism of its management of allegations and this was prior to the current bishop's appointment in 2010. Under Bishop Duffy, now retired, the diocese "consistently missed" opportunities for "preventative interventions".

Maeve Lewis of One in Four called the reviews "reassuring" and called on the Children's Minister to accelerate the Children First legislation.

Behind the success of the clean-up in the church is an army of volunteers, according to NBSCCI CEO Ian Elliott, who have been giving their time to support the safeguarding of children in the church, with "heroic" efforts.

Reading the review of the Ferns Diocese, just over 10 years from the crisis it faced in 2002 after a documentary on abuser Fr Sean Fortune, the George Mitchell measure of 'normalcy' is evident. The diocese is 'boringly' compliant and this compliancy seems to be becoming a more pedestrian part of the Catholic Church in Ireland.

Just as the causes of the Northern Ireland conflict are complex, so too are the issues around child abuse in society complex.

Why do so many people in our society abuse? To see it as a problem particular to the Catholic Church is to bury one's head in the sand. The name Jimmy Savile screams out that it is not just a clerical problem but something deeply corrupt in many societies.

Although the Catholic Church was dragged kicking and screaming by media and public pressure to clean up its mess, we now have a template for other institutions that work with children.