Madam, – I wish Andrew Madden all the best with his typically courageous decision to formally leave the Catholic Church (“Madden leaves Church over failure of bishops to resign”, January 18th), a process I went though many years ago.
For anyone interested in finding out more about this process, detailed information is available at www.catholic.ie – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Andrew Madden is to be thanked for having the courage more than 10 years ago to have gone public about his abuse by a Catholic priest, Ivan Payne, and to have begun a public process, together with others, that culminated in the Ryan report.
It seems Mr Madden has suffered enough at the soiled hands of clerical authority, especially in the refusal of those named in the report to accept responsibility and immediately resign after its publication, rather than the piecemeal reluctant resignations that have occurred to date.
Bishop Drennan’s defiant refusal to resign must have been the final straw for him.
I’m sorry that we are losing another warrior for reform within the Catholic Church.
Mr Madden’s departure leaves those of us teetering on its edge wondering whether the corruption of clerical power can ever be reformed. – Yours, etc,