Highlights of this report were released last July, so none of this is really a surprise, but the extent of both the abuse and the cover-up is nothing less than sickening, and every retelling is a terrible blow to the church, not just in Ireland. In the Year for Priests, one prays this is a scourge that will never recur again anywhere, and of course, we pray for all the victims, their families and their offenders. May the great Irish saints foster a rebirth of the fervent essential Catholicism that generations of good and saintly Irish nuns and priests brought throughout the world, including my own country.
Ireland's Roman Catholic archbishops
'covered up abuse to protect church's reputation'
By Matthew Moore
26 Nov 2009
Ireland's Roman Catholic archbishops and police covered up four decades of child sex abuse by priests in a conspiracy to protect the reputation of the church, a report found.
Clergy were able to molest hundreds of vulnerable children because of a "systemic, calculated perversion of power" that put their abusers above the law, the Irish government said.
The damning verdict on the conduct of Church and secular authorities followed a three-year investigation into allegations of child abuse by priests in Dublin going back to the 1960s.
Investigators who were given access to 60,000 previous secret church files accused four Archbishops of Dublin of deliberately suppressing evidence of "widespread" abuse.
Archbishops John Charles McQuaid, Dermot Ryan and Kevin McNamara, who have all since died, and Cardinal Desmond Connell, who is retired, all refused to pass information to local police, the report said.
Evidence was kept inside a secret vault in the archbishop's Dublin residence, with suspect clerics moved between parishes to prevent the allegations being made public.
For their part, Gardai frequently ignored complaints from victims, effectively granting priests immunity from prosecution. The inquiry found that church authorities nurtured inappropriately close relations with senior police officers.
Last night the current Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, apologised to the victims, describing their abuse as an "offence to God". He said: "I offer to each and every survivor my apology, my sorrow and my shame for what happened."
In a 750-page report published yesterday the Commission to Inquire into the Dublin Archdiocese blamed the Church's "don't ask, don't tell" approach for perpetuating abuse.
"The Commission has no doubt that clerical child sexual abuse was covered up by the Archdiocese of Dublin and other Church authorities," it said.
"The structures and rules of the Catholic Church facilitated that cover-up.
"The State authorities facilitated that cover-up by not fulfilling their responsibilities to ensure that the law was applied equally to all and allowing the Church institutions to be beyond the reach of the normal law enforcement processes."
The inquiry, headed by Judge Yvonne Murphy, dismissed
the claims of former bishops that they did not know sex abuse was a crime.
[Incredible that any adult could say that, let alone bishops!]
It concluded that the the church hierarchy was preoccupied with "the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the Church, and the preservation of its assets".
It added: "All other considerations, including the welfare of children and justice for victims, were subordinated to these priorities."
The commission looked at a sample study of allegations made by 320 children against 46 priests between 1975 and 2004. One priest admitted to sexually abusing over 100 children, while another accepted that he had abused on a fortnightly basis over 25 years.
Two of the priests featured in the report have their names blacked out so not to undermine ongoing criminal actions.
Dermot Ahern, the Irish justice minister, said that the Gardai would review its procedures for dealing with sexual abuse complaints, and promised to continue to pursue the perpetrators.
"The report catalogues evil after evil committed in the name of what was perversely seen as the greater good," he said.
"There is no escaping the cruel irony that the Church, partly motivated by a desire to avoid scandal, in fact created a scandal on an astonishing scale."
Victims called for senior Catholics and police officers to face criminal charges over the cover-up, and for the inquiry to be expanded to cover every Irish archdiocese.
"Those who turn a blind eye to these offences are as much a part of the problem as those who actually commit them," said Andrew Madden, who helped blow the whistle on the abuse 10 years ago.
The publication of the report, which was submitted to the Irish government in July, is expected to prompt a wave of new child abuse allegations against Catholic priests.
On Wednesday the Christian Brothers religious order announced it had set aside £145 million to compensate children who had been abused in its schools in orphanages in Ireland.
That offer came six months after a landmark report revealed widespread sexual, physical and emotional abuse of children in Catholic-run institutions dating back to the 1930s.
Dublin sex abuse: this could
finish off Catholic Ireland
November 26th, 2009
This is written in haste, but my first thought on reading about the appalling (but not surprising) cover-up of sex abuse in Dublin archiocese was: this will make the Catholic Church even more loathed in Ireland than it already is.
The greatest scandal, of course, lies in the acts perpetrated by wicked clergy against the innocent. But it’s the secrecy and deceit of the Church authorities that resonates most with me.
For, although I was educated by Irish brothers, I can honestly say that I’ve never experienced clerical paedophilia, or even met a priest or brother who was to my knowledge a classic paedophile.
But I have encountered, many times, the arrogance of senior clergy who believe that almost anything can be kept secret from the laity if it might “damage the good name of the Church” (ie, inconvenience or embarrass them).
And I associate the worst abuses of power with the mean-spirited Jansenism of the Irish Church and the Irish clerical diaspora. More on this subject later.
Back in October 2006, meeting the bishops of Ireland on ad limina visit, Pope Benedict XVI spoke to them in unusually strong terms of the sex offenses against minors by the Irish clergy. It is worth reposting the CNS report of that meeting.
Also worth noting that when the Pope spoke about sexual abuses by priests on his trip the US in April 2008, most reporters treated it as if it was the first time he had ever spoken about the issue as Pope, even if this talk with the Irish bishops was quite well-reported in the Catholic media at the time.
Benedict XVI told Irish bishops in 2006:
'Find the truth and prevent priestly abuse'
By John Thavis
VATICAN CITY, Oct. 30 2006 (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI said priestly sexual abuse of minors was a "heart-rending" tragedy that requires an effort of purification by the church.
Addressing Ireland's bishops at the Vatican Oct. 28, the Pope encouraged them to establish the truth of past sex abuse cases, take steps to prevent future crimes and bring healing to the victims.
"The wounds caused by such acts run deep, and it is an urgent task to rebuild confidence and trust where these have been damaged," the Pope said.
Irish church leaders have had to deal with hundreds of allegations of clerical sexual abuse, many of which came to light in recent years.
The bishops set up an advisory committee and an independent, lay-led commission to study the problem, and earlier this year published "Our Children, Our Church," a child protection policy that included new measures more consistent with state procedures.
The Pope's remarks to the bishops, at the end of their "ad limina" visit to the Vatican, were his most extensive public comments on priestly sex abuse since his election in April 2005. The heads of dioceses are required to make "ad limina" visits every five years to report on the status of their dioceses.
"In the exercise of your pastoral ministry, you have had to respond in recent years to many heart-rending cases of sexual abuse of minors. These are all the more tragic when the abuser is a cleric," the pope said.
"In your continuing efforts to deal effectively with this problem, it is important to establish the truth of what happened in the past, to take whatever steps are necessary to prevent it from occurring again, to ensure that the principles of justice are fully respected and, above all, to bring healing to the victims and to all those affected by these egregious crimes," he said.
The Pope said that by facing the problem in this way the church in Ireland would grow stronger and come to see the present moment as a "time of purification."
In their private talks with Vatican agencies, Irish bishops said they were encouraged to continue their efforts to deal with sexual abuse and to develop the policies expressed in "Our Children, Our Church."
When Pope Benedict met privately with Bishop Denis Brennan of Ferns, Ireland, where more than 100 allegations of clerical sex abuse were made between 1962 and 2002, the Pope communicated his personal anguish and horror at the behavior of the clerical abusers, according to a spokesman for the Ferns Diocese.
Speaking to the bishops as a group, the Pope said it was also important that the good work of the majority of Irish priests not be overshadowed by the transgressions of some.
"I am certain that the people understand this and continue to regard their clergy with affection and esteem," he said.
The Pope said he was concerned about the sharply declining vocation rate in Ireland. He asked the bishops to offer young people an attractive vision of the ordained priesthood.
"Even if Christian commitment is considered unfashionable in some circles, there is a real spiritual hunger and a generous desire to serve others among the young people of Ireland," he said.
The Pope described the Irish as a people shaped by the Christian faith. He said modern changes in Irish society present challenges as well as opportunities, and people are looking to the bishops for leadership.
"Help them to recognize the inability of the secular, materialist culture to bring true satisfaction and joy. Be bold in speaking to them of the joy that comes from following Christ and living according to his commandments," he said.
While the Church sometimes must speak out against evils, he said, it must correct the impression that Catholicism is merely a "collection of prohibitions."
"So often the church's countercultural witness is misunderstood as something backward and negative in today's society. That is why it is important to emphasize the good news, the life-giving and life-enhancing message of the Gospel," he said.
He said one key was sound catechesis among young Catholics. He encouraged bishops to make sure catechetical programs are based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church and to avoid superficial presentations of Catholic teaching.
The Pope also said he hoped and prayed for reconciliation, particularly in regard to Northern Ireland, where he said much progress has been made in recent times.
In an address to the pope, Archbishop Sean Brady of Armagh, Northern Ireland, invited the pontiff to visit the country.
"Should God's will and your heavy responsibilities allow you to accept this invitation, you will discover in Ireland a country of warm welcome, but also of change," Archbishop Brady said. He cited Ireland's recent economic success and the accompanying "loss of Christian memory."
The Pope did not respond directly to the invitation. British newspapers reported that consideration was being given to a simultaneous visit to Northern Ireland next spring by the Pope and Britain's Queen Elizabeth, as a culmination of the Northern Ireland peace process.
The Irish bishops, however, said they were told in the Vatican's Secretariat of State that the Pope appeared to be "booked up" for travels through 2007. He has two known trips scheduled, to Brazil in May and to Austria and the Czech Republic in September
[NB: This trip did not take place until this year!]
At a press conference Oct. 28, the Irish bishops said they were impressed with the sympathy and encouragement Pope Benedict showed in their meetings. The Pope tended to do more listening than talking, said Bishop Michael Smith of Meath, Ireland.
Bishop Patrick Walsh of Down and Connor, Northern Ireland, said the Pope, in words and demeanor, was very positive. The Pope "doesn't go around slapping backs or anything like that," but exudes a quiet, restrained joy that comes from faith, he said.
Even as the Pope points to threats to society and the Christian response, he takes care to point out that Christian values are in many ways shared by all humanity, Bishop Walsh said.
"I think the Holy Father at the present moment seems to be right on the wavelength of giving a very positive message, in language people can understand," he said.
The full text of the Pope's 10/28/06 address to the Irish bishops may be found on
freeforumzone.leonardo.it/discussione.aspx?idd=354537&p=8
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 27/11/2009 05:37]