WE’RE angry in Ireland right now about so many things.
At this precise moment, it is the Catholic Church which is getting the full force of our rage.
Just as Rupert Murdoch says he didn’t know what was going on in the News of the World which accounted for 1% of his global media empire, and we don’t buy that, we also don’t buy that the Vatican didn’t know what went on in the small diocese of Cloyne in its global Church of 1 billion Catholics.
We want the Nuncio kicked out, the Embassy to the Vatican closed down and, if horse-whipping was still legal, I’d say we’d be tempted to use it in relation to some bishops and priests.
We need now a degree of rationality and logic and to take time to look at the evidence. We need our government to engage with Church officials here and in the Vatican and discuss this. Statements to the media back and forth are not helping the ultimate cause which is the protection of children.
Minister Alan Shatter has said that the Vatican spokesman’s comments are disingenuous. Yet mandatory reporting and other recommendations which were contained in the Ferns Report have not been implemented by the state.
We need now a degree of rationality and logic and to take time to look at the evidence. We need our government to engage with Church officials here and in the Vatican and discuss this. Statements to the media back and forth are not helping the ultimate cause which is the protection of children.
Minister Alan Shatter has said that the Vatican spokesman’s comments are disingenuous. Yet mandatory reporting and other recommendations which were contained in the Ferns Report have not been implemented by the state.
How then can the state, which does not currently have mandatory reporting, criticise the Vatican for not advocating it 14 years ago?
It’s not logical.
It is uncomfortable to think that maybe the "other" side has a case. And so far we haven’t heard the case from the Vatican in any official response.
It’s not logical.
It is uncomfortable to think that maybe the "other" side has a case. And so far we haven’t heard the case from the Vatican in any official response.
It is understandable that we have a natural bias against the Vatican as we have all been sickened by the cover-up and denial and mental reservation that has gone on in the Church’s name.
The communications from the bishops and the Vatican is as usual slow and appalling.
Yet, when we are rational, we stop and ask: "Why did the 1997 letter from the Vatican come to light only in the last year?" The answer is some of the Irish bishops leaked it to point the finger at the Vatican and show that they were not all to blame.
Yet, when we are rational, we stop and ask: "Why did the 1997 letter from the Vatican come to light only in the last year?" The answer is some of the Irish bishops leaked it to point the finger at the Vatican and show that they were not all to blame.
The Vatican has hit back at the Irish bishops through Fr Lombardi’s statement saying that the Irish bishops sent their guidelines to Rome for discussion.
The implication is, had the bishops been serious enough about those guidelines they could have petitioned Rome to have them made into Church law. This is precisely what the American bishops did.
What we also need to look at is the abject failure of the state to protect children. The Diocese of Ferns has been operating mandatory reporting.
The implication is, had the bishops been serious enough about those guidelines they could have petitioned Rome to have them made into Church law. This is precisely what the American bishops did.
What we also need to look at is the abject failure of the state to protect children. The Diocese of Ferns has been operating mandatory reporting.
In 2008 it called on the minister to implement the Ferns Report – that is, a bishop called on the minister for Children to implement the Ferns guidelines.
So where do we go from here?
Instead of engaging negatively with the Vatican and the bishops, the state needs to sit down and talk.
So where do we go from here?
Instead of engaging negatively with the Vatican and the bishops, the state needs to sit down and talk.
Neither of these two parties can afford to point the finger, so it is time to stop the grandstanding and get real.
I believe that the Vatican has come a long way since 1997, even if, at times, it has had to be dragged kicking and screaming to realise the extent of the problem of abuse.
I believe that the Vatican has come a long way since 1997, even if, at times, it has had to be dragged kicking and screaming to realise the extent of the problem of abuse.
Also the state has to admit that the sentences given to abusers in court are inadequate, the lack of supervision of abusers when they are released is a recipe for disaster as we’ve seen in Donegal.
Children are not benefiting from a comprehensive state child protection system, so the state needs to put its hands up, take responsibility and get on with fixing it. I believe Minister Francis Fitzgerald is keen to do this.
If the state can be more honest in its acceptance of its failures, and engage in dialogue with the Church, I believe that pressure will come from the Vatican for many of the Irish bishops to do the honourable thing and go.
If the state can be more honest in its acceptance of its failures, and engage in dialogue with the Church, I believe that pressure will come from the Vatican for many of the Irish bishops to do the honourable thing and go.
But, if we put their backs to the wall, understandably they will just write off the Irish state as irrational and anti-Catholic.
We need to step back from our anger, for the sake of our children, and let our evidence and rational argument step into the fray.
Garry O’Sullivan is managing editor of the Irish Catholic newspaper
We need to step back from our anger, for the sake of our children, and let our evidence and rational argument step into the fray.
Garry O’Sullivan is managing editor of the Irish Catholic newspaper
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