Madam, – If the Catholic Church were any other organisation, religious or otherwise, there would be a public outcry and demands for it to be dismantled in the wake of a report such as the Murphy report.
What is it about the Irish body politic that the concept of accountability and responsibility is so fundamentally absent? Even when systemic corruption is demonstrably proved to exist at the heart of our major institutions, as it has been in our politics, our planning systems, our banking structures and the Catholic Church, nothing ever fundamentally changes.
As a last resort, could just one responsible individual within the Catholic Church either resign or call for a named colleague to resign? – Yours, etc,
GARRY HYNES,
Raymond Street,
Dublin 8.
Madam, – In the wake of his defence of Bishop Donal Murray, Bishop Willie Walsh should resign immediately. Bishop Walsh has meticulously groomed his image in the media as a voice of moderation in the Catholic Church. That image has been well and truly exposed by his failure to see the horrific role played by Bishop Murray and other bishops in protecting paedophile priests, thereby facilitating the abuse of people.
Every bishop involved in the cover-up should resign now. If these supposed men of God cannot see that as a result of their cover-up they are responsible for the abuse of people by priests who were moved from parish to parish, then the Catholic Church has no role left to play in society. Only people power will force these grotesque men from their positions of power as evidenced by the weasel words of the Papal Nuncio, Dr Guiseppe Leanza.
His reason for ignoring requests of information from the Murphy commission was that his office could only respond directly to the Government and not the commission itself. Once again the Vatican is more interested in secrecy and cover-up than finding the truth for victims.
The media and the airwaves have been full of hand-wringing by the Catholic hierarchy saying they are truly sorry for their crimes. However, they all say the most important thing is that we should learn from the past and move on. As if learning from the past will excuse these men from being accountable for their crimes and therefore allow them to stay in their positions. If they are true Christians, they must go now. – Yours, etc,
JOHN KENNY,
Monkstown Valley,
Co Dublin.
Madam, – I am one of the very few priests left in Ireland still in my 20s, and like everyone else read with great horror, shame and disgust the contents of the report compiled by Judge Yvonne Murphy and her team, and like everyone else I fervently hope that justice will be done for those who were abused by clergy.
As a priest, one of the youngest priests in Ireland, I am indeed very anxious about the future. Many people rightly ask me: “Can the church survive? Does the church deserve to survive?” I would say that the church can survive if, as a wise parishioner stated: “If the priests and bishops discover total honesty and humility and remember what they were ordained for. But it will take a long long time before anything like trust can be built up.” – Yours, etc,
Fr VINCENT CUSHNAHAN
CC,
Bellsteel Road,
Poleglass,
Belfast.
A chara,– May I express my deep admiration and appreciation for all those brave enough to speak out about the abuse they endured at the hands of the Catholic church. Their actions have saved a generation of Irish children from a similar fate.
No one can deny that some radical changes are due if the church ever hopes to recover from this horror.
Surely now it is time for the church to accept women priests and allow all priests to marry? It is the only way forward. – Is mise,
FRANCES PRUNTY,
Coill Aoibhinn,
Wexford.
Madam, – If Pope Benedict XVI is the Holy Father of Roman Catholics, why does he not comfort and advise his children in Ireland by writing an epistle, like his predecessor Peter? – Yours, etc,
VICTORIA LUMLEY,
Charleville Road,
Tullamore, Co Offaly.
Madam, – Not even William Trevor could have come up with the names of Fr Edmondus, Fr Ioannes, Fr Laurentius, Fr Cicero etc, as the pseudonyms for the priests involved in clerical abuse in the Dublin archdiocese (Home News, November 27th).
Unfortunately, the report is not a work of fiction, but an all too true account of the web of deceit which priests and their bishops perpetrated on their “loyal” parishioners. Their activities are not just an affront to Catholics, but an insult to Christians of every denomination.
What amazes me is that the clamour for the removal of compulsory celibacy is not being heard above the din of recriminations and accusations. Surely, the rot at the centre of these tragic situations is that priests are being denied their emotional needs? The celibacy rule will deter the sexually normal from considering the Catholic priesthood and encourage the deviant paedophile.
Over a hundred years ago George Moore, in one of his short stories, posed the question, what sort of country would Ireland become if the Catholic priests were allowed to marry? From the nightmare of the Ryan report and the Dublin diocesan report maybe it is time for the Irish people to explore this alternative? – Yours, etc,
BERNARD O’GRADY,
Queens Avenue,
Muswell Hill,
London, England.
Madam, – I look at Ireland and think of Germany. The crimes are not the same, but the ensuing challenge is similar: a society that has collectively failed and sacrificed its most vulnerable must confront and take responsibility for its failures, fears and destructive patterns. Outrage and contrition from a few enlightened ones won’t suffice.
How can you go to Mass without asking your church authorities a lot of hard questions? What happened to your sense of justice when you can bay for any ordinary sex offender’s blood, yet feel the need to protect powerful clerics who ensured that serial abusers could poison and cripple many more lives? How are you going to explain all this to your children? Most of them will never know the paralysing fear that makes us scorn the victims and side with the perpetrators.
Nothing and nobody is beyond redemption. In Germany it began with the emergence of personal accountability as a universal yardstick; but before that, a whole generation despaired of their parents’ silence and denial. You have the chance to do better than that. – Yours, etc,
PETRA KINDLER,
Rockenham Court,
Ferrybank, Waterford.
Madam, – I knew Bishop Donal Murray when I was a student of moral theology back in the 1980s: he was a caring and impressive teacher. The bishop has admitted his errors in handling child abuse cases, but surely by putting child protection police and procedures in place in his diocese he has demonstrated that he has learned lessons on what is best practice in child protection? If he has learned these lessons and is an advocate for best practices in child protection, what purpose would his resignation serve now? – Yours, etc,
FRANK BROWNE,
Ballyroan Park,
Templeogue, Dublin 16.
Madam, – A bishop offering to listen to the faithful and willing to abide by their decision! Is this a record? – Yours, etc,
ANGELA HANLEY,
Beech Park,
Athlone, Co Westmeath.
Madam, – Fergus O’Neill (November 30th) calls for the expulsion of the Papal Nuncio as a protest by this country at the arrogance and non co-operation shown by him in his capacity of Vatican ambassador; and that of his bosses back in Vatican City. I agree with this sentiment completely.
Further, I am totally uninterested in whether those people adversely referred to in the report feel they should resign from their positions or not. It seems to me they may well be accessories after the fact to serious crimes. If so, I want to hear that the DPP is considering appropriate legal action against those people. This would also be consistent with the statement by the Minister for Justice that a collar would not protect a criminal. – Yours, etc,
VINCENT Mac CARTHY,
Cloncat,
Fordstown, Co Meath.
Madam, – Comment and discussion following the release of the Dublin diocesan report names successive diocesan leaders, anonymous priests and religious who turned a blind eye to the abuse being committed by their colleagues, and the Garda and State entities as colluding in the cover-up of criminal activities. The Holy See is nowhere named as a co-conspirator.
The Pope appoints bishops and they in turn report only to him. Since the Vatican guards its prerogative to make these appointments, does it not bear the responsibility when they fail to carry out their pastoral duties? Is the Vatican itself not culpable when it refuses to remove all cardinals, archbishops, bishops and priests from their posts and ensure that they be accountable to civil authorities to answer for alleged crimes?
It cannot be both an enabler and a moral authority. Good and decent senior churchmen cannot govern their jurisdictions effectively when auxiliary bishops or priests in their dioceses can disregard their orders and appeal directly to faceless bureaucrats in Rome. Remember John Magee and Cloyne anyone? – Yours, etc,
THERESE RICKMAN-BULL,
Lake Whatcom Boulevard,
Bellingham,
Washington, US.
Madam, – One of the parishioners in Bishop Donal Murray’s parish is quoted as saying, “Some people wouldn’t stop until they got the Pope himself to resign”. What a good proposal. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL CAMPBELL,
Liffey Drive,
Newbridge,
Co Kildare.
Madam, – It seems to me that the main point is being lost. There are calls for bishops mentioned in the report to resign. What would happen then is a new bishop would be imposed on the diocese by Pope Benedict XVI and this new man would be given the same mandate as all other bishops, ie to protect the church at all costs. The only explanation for the way bishops behaved is that they were acting under Vatican orders (how many other countries moved their paedophile priests from parish to parish at the first hint of their being found out)?
The most significant statement over the past few days came from your own paper (November 27th) in Paddy Agnew’s article quoting Vatican spokesman Fr Lombardi as saying “In the case of Dublin, we have an excellent Archbishop and he knows what has to be said”.
Implicit in that statement is the archbishop must follow the Vatican line. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN O’SULLIVAN,
Sutton Park,
Dublin 13.
Madam, – Eamon Casey briefly had sexual relations with a mature consenting woman and they had a son whom he supported. Once that became public he was forced to resign and exiled by his “brother” bishops who then fought to keep him away from Ireland for as long as possible.
Various bishops are shown to have ignored and covered up for appalling abusers of children and now their “brother” bishops appeal for compassion for them.
Clearly engaging in normal adult sexual relations is, for a bishop, a much more serious offence than protecting monsters who prey on children.
No further comment needed. I am a church-going Roman Catholic, in spite of all of this. – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN RYAN,
The Orchards,
Montenotte,
Cork.