Cardinals lead rites of penitence
for sex abuses in Dublin
By Lisa Wangsness
February 21, 2011
DUBLIN — Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin lay prostrate before a bare altar as the packed cathedral watched in silence.
They listened as lectors read long sections of government reports detailing horrific abuse of children in Dublin parishes and church-run industrial schools.
Then O’Malley and Martin washed the feet of eight abuse victims. Several wept as Martin poured water from a large pitcher and O’Malley knelt and dried them with a white terry cloth towel.
“We want to be part of a church that puts survivors, the victims of abuse, first — ahead of self-interest, reputation, and institutional needs,’’ O’Malley said.
O’Malley, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Boston, is in Ireland at the request of Pope Benedict XVI, who has charged him with conducting a review of the response to sexual abuse by the Archdiocese of Dublin.
At yesterday’s “Liturgy of Lament and Repentance,’’ held at St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral, he and Martin each asked God and abuse victims for forgiveness in unusually specific terms.
“On behalf of the Holy Father, I ask forgiveness, for the sexual abuse of children perpetrated by priests, and the past failures of the church’s hierarchy, here and in Rome — the failure to respond appropriately to the problem of sexual abuse,’’ said O’Malley, who wore the brown habit of his Capuchin order. “Publicly atoning for the church’s failures is an important element of asking the forgiveness of those who have been harmed by priests and bishops, whose actions — and inactions — gravely harmed the lives of children entrusted to their care.’’
Martin, dressed in a simple black cassock, thanked those who had the courage to speak about their abuse.
“The first step towards any form of healing is to allow the truth to come out,’’ said Martin, who became archbishop in 2004 and has been highly critical of his predecessors’ handling of abuse cases.
“The truth will set us free, but not in a simplistic way,’’ he said. “The truth hurts. The truth cleanses, not with designer soap, but with a fire that burns and hurts and lances.’’
Martin added that there is more reckoning to come, saying, “there is still a long path to journey in honesty before we can truly merit forgiveness.’’
Announced only days ago, the service was not heavily publicized. Nonetheless, the church was full, drawing about 400 people on a dark, drizzly afternoon.
Angela McParland, 57, said she heard about the service yesterday morning and decided, without quite knowing why, to come.
“I know it’s a terrible thing, and we need to try to understand it,’’ she said of the abuse crisis.
The service was written largely by victims of sexual abuse who participated in the liturgy.
Among them was the Rev. Paddy McCafferty, a priest originally from Belfast who said he was abused as a young seminarian; he said he was startled by the emotion that overcame him during the foot-washing ceremony.
“It was very powerful,’’ he said. “It’s the beginning. We’re only starting on the road to healing. And please God, today has been a significant event for people.’’
He said he hoped that the service had helped the worshipers and other victims.
“There’s still an awful lot of anger and hurt, which is understandable and we have to sit with that,’’ he said. “Bit by bit. Gently, gently does it.’’
The service included long stretches of soft, airy music, and readings from Scripture and prayer.
“Lord, we are so sorry for what some of us did to your children: treated them so cruelly, especially in their hour of need,’’ the congregation prayed after each reading from the government reports. “We have left them with a lifelong suffering.’’
A handful of protesters ridiculed the service as ecclesiastical theater. Among them was Paddy Doyle, one of the first abuse victims to go public with his story in his 1988 autobiography “The God Squad,’’ his account of suffering severe physical and sexual abuse at a church-run industrial school.
Doyle said he had been invited to have his feet washed, but he declined.
“It’s a stunt,’’ he said. “Another stunt by the Catholic Church to absolve itself of the rape and abuse of children all over the world.’’
The service was disrupted several times by victims who interrupted to speak.
The first such case occurred minutes after the service began, when a man strode down the center aisle and asked the musicians to stop playing for a moment.
The man, Robert Dempsey, spoke for five minutes about being sexually abused in a church-run mental institution as a child, waiting endlessly for his case to be heard in court, and being mistreated by police.
“What the hell did I do wrong as a child?’’ he said. “What the hell did any of us do?’’
When he said he had pictures proving his story to give to Martin, Martin came and stood by his side. And when he finished, the cathedral burst into applause.
A while later, an elderly man made his way to the microphone from the middle of the pews.
He gave a terse account of how, as a child in a church-run school, he was thrown into a cold bath and then brought into another room, “frozen, naked, and terrified.’’
He was forced to climb a ladder, and with each step, he was lashed with a whip.
“May God forgive them,’’ he said.
The congregation applauded again — and again a bit later, when a young man spoke in remembrance of those who had committed suicide as a result of abuse.
“I was delighted it was interrupted,’’ said a woman who would allow only her middle name, Bridget, to be used because her work would soon involve church-run organizations and she feared professional repercussions. “It brought the reality and the edge of pain to something that could be, despite Diarmuid Martin’s words and Cardinal O’Malley’s words at the end, just a smoothing-over experience.’’
Forgiveness sought
for 'sins' of clergy
by PATSY McGARRY
Religious Affairs Correspondent
Feb. 21, 2011
THE CATHOLIC Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin and the Cardinal Archbishop of Boston Seán O’Malley yesterday washed the feet of a representative number of victims of clerical child sex abuse in “an act of humble service” at Dublin’s Pro-Cathedral.
At the beginning of a moving 90-minute liturgy “of lament and repentance”, prepared in the main by abuse victims themselves, Archbishop Martin and Cardinal O’Malley both prostrated themselves in silent prayer before the altar which was dominated by a large, bare, wooden cross, symbolising the cross of Jesus Christ.
Most of the readings, which included excerpts from the Ryan and Murphy reports, were by victims or relatives of abuse victims. A woman victim read from Matthew’s gospel about Jesus and children, and his words that “anyone who is the downfall of one of these little ones . . . would be better drowned in the depths of the sea.”
Among the eight people who had their feet washed were Marie Collins, abused as a child by Fr Paul McGenis, Darren McGavin whose abuse led to former priest Fr Tony Walsh being sentenced to 16 years imprisonment last December, and Christine Buckley who was abused in Dublin’s Goldenbridge orphanage.
Archbishop Martin asked God’s forgiveness “for the sins of bishops and religious superiors, when they failed to respond as good shepherds to victims of abuse by priests and religious.”
He sought forgiveness too “for indifference in the face of human suffering, for putting the institutional Church before the safety of children, for covering up crimes of abuse, and by so doing actually causing the sexual abuse of more children.” He asked God’s forgiveness “for the deaf ear, the blind eye and the hard of heart.”
Cardinal O’Malley, who is leading the apostolic visitation to Dublin sent by Pope Benedict,said “we confess that we are guilty and our sins fill us with dismay.” He also said “on behalf of the Holy Father, I ask forgiveness for the sexual abuse of children perpetrated by priests and the past failures of the Churchs hierarchy, here and in Rome . . . to respond appropriately to the problem of sexual abuse”.
Archbishop Martin said “no one, no one who shared any responsibility for what happened in . . . this archdiocese can ask forgiveness of these who were abused without first recognising the injustice done and their own failure for what took place.”
He said “I, as Archbishop of Dublin . . . ask forgiveness of God and I ask from each of you for the first steps of forgiveness from the victims of abuse.”
He expressed “immense gratitude” to those men and women who, “despite the hurt it cost them . . . had the courage to speak out, to speak out, to speak out and to speak out again and again, courageously and with determination even in the face of unbelief and rejection.” All victims were indebted to them, he said, as was “the Church in Dublin and worldwide and everyone here today.”
He apologised “in my own name” for “the insensitivity and even hurtful and nasty reactions that you have encountered. I appeal to you to continue to speak out. There is still a long path to journey in honesty before we can truly merit forgiveness.”
At the end of the liturgy a “Candle of Protection” was blessed by Archbishop Martin and lit from the Paschal Candle before it was carried in procession to nearby St Joseph’s altar.
Two victims made unplanned contributions at the service. Interrupting the liturgy, Robert Dempsey presented Archbishop Martin with documents alleging continued abuse by civil authorities while, doing likewise, Christopher Heaphy spoke of his savage treatment in an institution as a five-year-old.
I am frankly ambivalent about what happened here. Of course, a rite of repentance is always salutary, and, in this case, even a much-needed gesture. But it also turned into a theater of catharsis for some of the abuse victims - and I don't think the Mass was the right place for that. Still, given what they went through, it's hard to blame them for using the occasion as they did. Also, the Mass probably brought many of these victims inside a church for the first time since their respective traumas, and something had to give...
BTW, I do not recall Cardinal O'Malley ever having held a similar rite in his own diocese of Boston, which shares with Dublin the dubious distinction of being the undisputed center of pedophile abuses by priests and the cover-up and inaction of their bishops.
Also, please remember that last year, the media, the victims. the victimhood advocates, and various assorted critics of the Pope had openly derided the part of his pastoral letter to the Irish in which he proposed the following spiritual program as the first concrete step in confronting the festering abuse issue - before even the apostolic visitations that he ordered carried out:
I now invite all of you to devote your Friday penances, for a period of one year, between now and Easter 2011, to this intention. I ask you to offer up your fasting, your prayer, your reading of Scripture and your works of mercy in order to obtain the grace of healing and renewal for the Church in Ireland.
I encourage you to discover anew the sacrament of Reconciliation and to avail yourselves more frequently of the transforming power of its grace.
Particular attention should also be given to Eucharistic adoration, and in every diocese there should be churches or chapels specifically devoted to this purpose. I ask parishes, seminaries, religious houses and monasteries to organize periods of Eucharistic adoration, so that all have an opportunity to take part.
Through intense prayer before the real presence of the Lord, you can make reparation for the sins of abuse that have done so much harm, at the same time imploring the grace of renewed strength and a deeper sense of mission on the part of all bishops, priests, religious and lay faithful.
- BENEDICT XVI
Pastoral Letter to the Catholics of Ireland
March 19, 2010
I certainly hope the bishops and priests have been promoting and carrying out this part of the program - they are spiritual exercises that do not command the headlines that yesterday's liturgy in Dublin did, but are far more meaningful in the long run.
I think it is an occasion to recall the prayer with which the Holy Father ended his pastoral letter to the Irish.
Prayer for the Church in Ireland
God of our fathers,
renew us in the faith which is our life and salvation,
the hope which promises forgiveness and interior renewal,
the charity which purifies and opens our hearts
to love you, and in you, each of our brothers and sisters.
Lord Jesus Christ,
may the Church in Ireland renew her age-old commitment
to the education of our young people in the way of truth and goodness,
holiness and generous service to society.
Holy Spirit, comforter, advocate and guide,
inspire a new springtime of holiness and apostolic zeal
for the Church in Ireland.
May our sorrow and our tears,
our sincere effort to redress past wrongs,
and our firm purpose of amendment
bear an abundant harvest of grace
for the deepening of the faith
in our families, parishes, schools and communities,
for the spiritual progress of Irish society,
and the growth of charity, justice, joy and peace
within the whole human family.
To you, Triune God,
confident in the loving protection of Mary,
Queen of Ireland, our Mother,
and of Saint Patrick, Saint Brigid and all the saints,
do we entrust ourselves, our children,
and the needs of the Church in Ireland.
Amen.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 21/02/2011 13:22]