CLERICAL CHILD SEX ABUSE

ANTHONY REDMOND,

ANTHONY REDMOND,

Madam, - It is reported that the Vatican has rejected the recommendations of the American bishops on dealing with clerical sexual abuse. Rather like the Nolan Report in Britain, the American bishops had come up with the most draconian measures to deal with the problem. The names of priests against whom allegations of sexual impropriety were made were to be made public, even when the allegations could not be substantiated or when some of the priests were dead.

In other words, once an allegation was made against a priest, that priest was to be treated as if he were guilty.

Recommendation 66 of Nolan requires priests to take "administrative leave" as soon as an allegation is made and priests were being ordered out of their parishes within hours. The Vatican's position is that this state of affairs is against natural justice.

READ MORE

It goes without saying that the scandal of clerical sexual abuse has to be addressed seriously but it is a fact that there have been many false accusations made against innocent priests whose lives have been destroyed as a result. Following the Nolan Report in the UK, it was actually suggested that the name of any priest accused of sexual abuse should be put on a register for a 100 years, even if that priest were acquitted by a jury and the police felt that he had no case to answer!

In 1993, a certain Steven Cook accused Cardinal Joseph Bernadin, Archbishop of Chicago, of sexual abuse. The media went into full swing and hounded the cardinal night and day. Some time later, Steven Cook admitted that the allegation was false and asked the court to drop all charges against the cardinal. Shortly afterwards, Cardinal Bernardin died from pancreatic cancer, which his doctors suggested may have resulted from severe stress. He wrote about his nightmarish experience in a moving little book entitled The Gift of Peace.

A similar accusation was levelled recently against Archbishop George Pell of Sydney. After a detailed police inquiry and court proceedings the Archbishop has been declared innocent. The Australian Council of Civil Liberties attacked what it termed the "hysteria surrounding the allegation" and added: "So far have we gone down the road of trashing a presumption of innocence that a law change is called for to restore fundamentally the principles of presumption of innocence."

I find it somewhat strange that the media have not had a lot to say about the fact that Archbishop Pell was cleared of this allegation. It appears that those who make false accusations can simply walk away scot-free. The American bishops, in their haste to be seen to be doing something about the problem, have abandoned the principle of justice and have apparently simply abandoned their priests.

The Vatican is simply trying to restore some balance and sanity to the situation. Yes, it is important to deal with the problem in a serious manner, but we must beware of hysteria and tabloid witch-hunts. - Yours, etc.,

ANTHONY REDMOND,

North Great George's Street,

Dublin 1.

... ... * ... * ... * ... ...

Madam, - I believe that the moral authority of the Catholic Church has been badly affected by the sexual abuse scandals. The way the Church authorities dealt with and communicated with its members will have profound effects on how parents instruct their children vis à vis moral leadership within the Church.

As parents, how are we to explain our Christian perspective to children who are witnessing a Church that claims to be Christian itself being examined for a sustained, fundamentally unchristian response to our people when they were at their most vulnerable?

The Church authorities might like to consider how the teaching authority monitors itself for Christian values and morality. - Yours, etc.,

CAITRIONA McCLEAN,

Weston Avenue,

Lucan,

Co Dublin.