With the stroke of a pen, bishops made themselves answerable

Some church leaders, fearful at being held up over others’ actions, tend to foot-drag.

ACCORDING TO Oscar Wilde, in this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.

The Irish Catholic bishops may be grimly reflecting on that thought after the publication of the third report of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSC). 

They wanted a crusader, someone who would once and for all bring order and credibility to child safeguarding in the church. 

They wanted to bring an end to the seemingly endless saga of mismanagement and damage concerning clerical sexual abuse.

They got just that in Ian Elliott, a blunt Northern Presbyterian with a passion for the safety of children, appointed by them as chief executive of the board, and in other excellent people like John Morgan and Sr Colette Stevenson. 

It is now obvious that at least some of the bishops are deeply uncomfortable with the consequences of their wish.

Ian Elliott wants Irish children to be safe. 

He wants the Irish Catholic Church to be an exemplar of best practice, a leading light in children safeguarding. 

He will therefore blow the whistle on any practices he sees as impeding those aims.

My mental image of him is of a whirlwind of impatient energy leaving consternation in his wake as he strides through dusty corridors, where until now people crept quietly and spoke in hushed voices. 

I have probably met more bishops in the course of work than the average person. 

As individuals, I have the greatest respect for some, and would accept the fundamental decency of the vast majority. 

But, however harsh it may sound, as a collective entity they are dysfunctional.

In fact, they scarcely exist as a collective entity, meeting only a couple of times a year, and scrupulously careful about never telling a brother bishop what to do.

Ian Elliott refers to the dioceses as 26 kingdoms, and the religious congregations as 162 independent republics.

It is an apt description. 

Each bishop sees himself as only responsible for his own diocese. The sad thing is that so many of them are doing the right thing in their own dioceses. 

The evidence is clearly available on diocesan websites and bulletin boards and in the huge numbers of trained personnel, which put the statutory authorities to shame. 

But despite doing the right thing themselves, I suspect most of them would see demanding accountability from another bishop as a gross infringement of the authority of the other man.

I am convinced the bishops did not think through the consequences of creating the NBSC. 

They have created something unprecedented, an independent entity that can call them to 

account and demand that they act as one on a national level.

It cannot be emphasised enough how this clashes with centuries-old church culture. 

The bishops are used to only being answerable to Rome. At the stroke of a pen, bishops and congregational leaders made themselves answerable to the safeguarding board.

I suspect that some bishops are desperately afraid of being held to account for the actions of predecessors.

A small minority can foot-drag, thereby focusing the attention of the media on the deficits, not on the excellent work and commitment of so many others.

In fact, I would not be surprised if some bishops or congregational leaders want to delay long enough to be safely retired, or preferably dead, before some of the historic evidence comes out. 

Such thinking is understandable, but the consequences could be disastrous. The first casualties will be children.

Child abuse is not a historic issue, largely dealt with and in the past. It is a reality today. 

Children will be brutalised and deprived of childhoods if everything possible is not done to ensure their safety.

Our record in Ireland is dreadful. We focus on the church, but Gordon Jeyes, appointed to investigate child deaths within the Health Service Executive (HSE), said recently:“I don’t think Ireland has got a proper child protection system. It has good practice, it has superb practitioners and good procedures but it doesn’t have a system.”

How damning is that in 2011? The lack of a system in the HSE has led to child deaths.

The programme for government promises to set up an agency which integrates services to children and families. 

In short, it will ensure consistency and that a system exists.

Ironically, the church now has a system and incredibly dedicated and well-trained lay volunteers, but if the institution bottles it now, begins to become fearful of what it has created, children will suffer and the church will slowly wither in Ireland. 

It is not easy to be a church leader. 

But legitimate concerns about data protection cannot be used as an excuse to stymie the work of an independent board.

We are at a tipping point. 

There is another tsunami coming. 

The Cloyne report will soon be published. 

God knows what is in it.

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