Brother says Vatican is making same mistakes

VATICAN'S ROLE:THE VATICAN is repeating mistakes made in Ireland and elsewhere in its handling of recent clerical child sex abuse revelations, a prominent Christian Brother has said.

Brother Edmund Garvey, a member of the Christian Brothers leadership team, told The Irish Timesyesterday his feeling was "that Rome is just coming into the eye of this storm and I can see that it is actually repeating some of the inadequacies , particularly in the area of communications, in the area of accepting, in the area of owning up to what has to be owned up to".

He said: “I think there have been some disastrous statements made around this issue. Instead of confronting it directly we start with other issues and try to relate it . . . for example, homosexuality related to paedophilia.

“Look, the issue we’re trying to deal with majorly at this point in time is the way in which celibate men in particular abuse children,sexually and physically. That’s the issue. Now let’s deal with that and let’s leave the other issues aside for the moment.”

He also wonders about the usefulness of an apostolic visitation, where the Brothers are concerned. Their average age is in the mid-70s, “also, I think we’ve done a lot of soul-searching in this country in collaboration with Government, with agencies of Government, with ourselves, with other groups of religious, now another layer of soul-searching . . . but I am open to seeing what parameters they lay down”.

On last Thursday’s meeting between the Government and religious congregations, he said the Brothers “have put on the table 67 per cent of available assets to us at the moment” where abuse costs were concerned.

At that meeting the 18 congregations were asked to contribute a further €200 million so they and the State share abuse costs 50:50.

“As to the Government decision that the €200 million would go to the new national children’s hospital,” he said, “I think it could be a marvellous contribution to the future and to future generations of children.” It was a proposal which also seemed attractive to the other congregations, he said.

Tom Hayes of the Alliance group did not walk out of the survivors’ meeting with the Government last Thursday nor were Mick Waters of Soca UK or Paddy Doyle “pleased with the meeting”, as reported on Saturday.