ANALYSIS: It is time for radical acts, either an inquiry in every diocese or a cull of the old hierarchy, writes Patsy McGarry
WHERE TO from here?
The question is being asked at senior levels within the Irish Catholic Church, and not just by Cardinal Seán Brady. It is also being asked by the faithful of other denominations, and among the faithless too. All are agreed on one point: it is time for radical action.
Currently two options seem uppermost. One is a proposed extension of the Murphy Commission’s remit to investigate the remaining 17 Catholic dioceses in the Republic not yet looked at by a statutory inquiry. This could run with a Northern Ireland counterpart investigating those two Catholic dioceses wholly that side of the Border and which, together with an extended Murphy Commission, would investigate the four cross-Border dioceses.
This week the One in Four group called for an extension of the Murphy remit to undertake that task and last Tuesday the Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said: “I do not believe that extending the Murphy commission to every diocese in Ireland would be the best way to use money for child protection. But it may be the only way.”
Asked whether the church would help fund the extension of the commission’s remit, Archbishop Martin said “we’ll see what way it goes”.
A spokesman for Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern said he was “very aware of developments concerning extending the remit of the commission” but that he wanted to see the current HSE audit of the Catholic dioceses completed first. That audit is currently being finalised.
Mr Ahern’s spokesman also pointed out that extension of the Murphy remit would be a matter for the Cabinet.
Informed sources have suggested that a number of separate commission inquiry teams could be set up under the same Act to work in parallel and so expedite the job which, as none of the other dioceses in Ireland are nearly as big as Dublin, would not take as long to investigate.
An indication of what may be involved in a second option can be gleaned from comments by Fr Michael Canny, spokesman for Derry diocese, on RTÉ Radio 1’s Today with Pat Kenny yesterday. This option could avoid any necessity to extend the Murphy Commission and any additonal costs.
Fr Canny said that “from the point of view of the faith of the faithful, there might have to be a cathartic moment”. When Pat Kenny put it to him that this “might just mean the cardinal going”, Fr Canny responded “well, it might mean the cardinal going and I also think ... that maybe anybody and everybody who had any dealings with this matter prior to protocols might have to look at their own situation”.
In translation what he meant is that those bishops who dealt with the clerical child sex abuse issue prior to the introduction of the church’s framework document on child protection in 1996, might think about standing down.
Currently there are 30 members of the Irish Bishops’ Conference, including five auxiliary bishops and Bishop John Magee. Of that number 19 were ordained bishop before 1996. Four of the latter have reached the retirement age of 75, with another man reaching that age next year. A further three have offered their resignations to the pope. Of the remaining 11, nine are 70 or over.
Some of those may be prepared to “go gentle”, as is the Bishop of Kildare Leighlin, 73-year-old Jim Moriarty. He offered his resignation to Pope Benedict on December 23rd last when he said that, with the benefit of hindsight, “I accept that, from the time I became an auxiliary bishop (1991), I should have challenged the prevailing culture.”
A week previously, he said: “My position is simple. I am 73 years old and I am obliged to hand in my resignation when I turn 75. However, if it will serve the church, the victims and the people, I am prepared to go sooner but no decision has been taken on that yet.” The same argument could well apply also where some of Bishop Moriarty’s colleagues are concerned.
It would allow for the "cathartic moment" Fr Canny spoke of yesterday. It would also allow for a radical rationalisation in the number of Irish Catholic dioceses. There are 26 here for a population of 4.5 million Catholics. Germany has 27 dioceses for 39 million Catholics. In his 2003 book The End of Irish Catholicism?Fr Vincent Twomey proposed the number of Irish dioceses be reduced to 12.