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	Church Structures 'May Have Added to Abuse' By John Cooney Irish Independent April 10, 2006 http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3? ca=9&si=1594710&issue_id=13899 BISHOPS and the Vatican have been challenged by a leading Irish theologian to review church structures that may have contributed to child sex abuse by clergy. He has called for a look at how the compulsory celibacy of priests and the unaccountability of bishops may have been part of the problem. And he has put forward a series of proposals that he says should be implemented in dealing with complaints against the clergy. Writing in the theological journal The Furrow, Fr Bill Cosgrave says it is unsurprising that some bishops are of the opinion that the relationship between priests and their bishops have been damaged by the manner in which accused priests have been dealt with. Fr Cosgrave put forward five proposals to the bishops for the establishment of just procedures in a secretive and hierarchical system of church governance. What gives Fr Cosgrave's radical proposals added weight among priests is that he previously was Dean of Discipline in St Peter's College, Wexford, and is now parish priest in Monageer, where the late Jim Grennan, one of the offenders named in the Ferns Report, was parish priest. He said church authorities should establish and make a matter of stated policy a standard of proof that must be reached in coming to conclusions in the cases being considered against priests. This standard must be significantly above a mere credible allegation or formal complaint. Priests, like others, should be given due process of law. An accused priest has a right to a proper process aimed at establishing the facts in relation to any allegation against him. "A thorough and prompt investigation must be carried out in relation to any and all allegations by qualified investigators. It will be essential here that this be totally independent of the bishop and his advisors." A canonical process or trial, again totally independent of the bishop and advisors, must be held, he writes. This process would decide, on the basis of relevant evidence, what the future of an accused priest should be.
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