The Catholic Church in Ireland has gone through few episodes in its history more traumatic than the crisis over the revelations that priests and religious have sexually abused children in their care. The profound shock still reverberates through its structures and has deepened other crises of authority and legitimacy the church has faced in recent years. It was crucial for its credibility that it should address the problem squarely and openly.
In adopting the guidelines proposed by its Advisory Group on Child Sexual Abuse the hierarchy has gone some way to tackle it by accepting two essential principles that the welfare of the child must be paramount and that allegations or suspicions of abuse by priests or religious must be passed on without delay to the senior ranking police officer for the area. These principles will help to remove what appeared to be an ambiguous stance in its previous pronouncements a reluctance to adopt an automatic reference to the civil authorities, associated with a suspicion that the church as an institution would be too inclined to protect its own personnel. By accepting that the child's interests are paramount the church should help to allay such suspicions.
As the Barnardo's organisation pointed out yesterday child sexual abuse by priests is especially deplorable because it takes advantage of a position of trust and respect to gratify their own desires and sense of power. The shame these cases have brought on the church is acknowledged by the apology from Cardinal Daly in the foreword to this document, although others argue that it still falls well short of a full calling into account of the church's culpability.
The new method of scrutinising and reporting such allegations announced yesterday needs to be tested in practice before it can be properly evaluated. Given the gravity of the issues at stake for individuals and church alike there is much to be said for a procedure that is fair as well as swift. The paragraphs dealing with the procedures for removing priests against whom allegations have been made, pending full investigation, are not entirely satisfactory and are clearly less stringent than the procedures applying in the English Catholic Church. Compensation to victims is not mentioned, possibly on legal advice. But it is an issue that will certainly not go away, and the expense has been found to be an important catalyst of change in the United States.
It will take a long time for the scars left by these scandals to heal. New wounds are still being opened in the courts almost every week. Cardinal Daly pointed out quite correctly yesterday that the guidelines are not a solution to the problem but merely a framework within which it should be handled. He anticipated that there are more revelations and accusations to come. These are salutary and welcome admissions. They provide evidence of a humility in the face of adversity a necessary antidote to what has previously seemed to be an arrogance about its power on the part of the Catholic Church in Ireland.