Sir, – Enda Kenny’s tremendous and courageous speech to the Dáil on the Cloyne report marks a significant moment in the history of our State.
Beginning with this speech, it seems that we can and ought to recognise that the children of this state are not only our future, but they are our responsibility now. It is now that we ought to act in their interests and it is now that we ought to pursue changes to our legal framework to give full expression to these responsibilities. The time for the referendum on children’s rights is now.
Together we can and ought to build a safe and secure country where the rights of our children, as individual, inimitable, irreplaceable human beings and fledgling citizens, can be given full expression and protection.
Mr Kenny’s speech is a critical step towards making this possible. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Enda Kenny’s brilliant speech condemning the actions of the Vatican hierarchy is a badly needed breath of fresh air. His bravery stands in stark contrast to the attitude of his predecessor, Brian Cowen, who told the Dáil last December that “the Holy See appears to have acted in good faith”, and that its approach was “consistent with international law via the diplomatic channels”. In light of the devastating conclusions of the Cloyne report, these statements are truly unbelievable.
The current leader of Fianna Fáil, Micheál Martin, was a minister for foreign affairs in the last government and was therefore responsible for these “diplomatic channels”, both with the Vatican and with the papal nuncio. Mr Martin needs to come before the Dáil and give an account to the people of his dealings with the Vatican, and particularly to explain why Fianna Fáil decided to swallow the lies of the Vatican hook, line and sinker. – Yours, etc,
A chara, – Eric Conway (July 20th) suggests the church should ban political parties’ church gate collections.
The public, and churchgoers in particular, should be aware that church gate collections are regulated by Garda permit and the church has no say regarding what organisations are given permission to hold these collections. – Is mise,
Sir, – Enda Kenny’s Dáil speech on Cloyne was excellent and I commend him. However, I have been somewhat bemused by the labelling of the speech as “brave” or “courageous” by many commentators.
Surely Mr Kenny was in the remarkably fortunate position that his case was cast iron and his cause was populist – a rare occurrence for a politician. I cannot see what danger he placed himself in by making the speech. He has had a great week, but when you are at the top the only way is down. Let’s not burden the man with too many positive labels. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – You report (July 20th) comments by a former moral professor of moral theology at Maynooth, Rev Vincent Twomey, to the effect that all bishops in office before Archbishop Martin’s appointment in 2004 should resign.
I wonder if he has thought this through, in justice to the bishops concerned.
Half the current members of the bishops’ conference were in office when it sanctioned the Framework document, the 1996 guidelines for responding to allegations of child sexual abuse against priests or religious. These guidelines contained the first set of procedures issued by any corporate body in Ireland that required that “in all instances where it is known or suspected that a child has been, or is being, sexually abused” the matter should be reported “without delay” to the Garda, the PSNI and also, in the case of a child, to the relevant heath/social services authority.
As a member of the advisory committee which drafted the guidelines, I know first-hand that the bishops’ conference decided unanimously to adopt the proposed procedures.
When the response of the Congregation for Clergy to the guidelines was communicated to the bishops by letter from the papal nuncio in 1997, it would be accurate to characterise the reaction of the vast majority of them as one of anger.
Whatever about the nuances of canon law contained in the letter, the obvious message was that the Framework document’s recommended reporting policy should not be implemented.
This anger found expression at two meetings the bishops’ conference had with the then prefect of the Congregation for Clergy, Cardinal Castrillon-Hoyos. The first was at Rosses Point in 1998, where Cardinal Connell launched a vigorous defence of the guidelines and strongly criticised the congregation’s response. The second was during an ad limina visit to Rome by the bishops in 1999, when Cardinal Connell and others, most notably Bishop Donal Murray of Limerick, reiterated in very trenchant language that the guidelines had to be followed.
In any case, the fact is, as Archbishop Diarmuid Martin told The Irish Times (July 18th), “the vast majority of bishops went ahead with their plans. They disregarded the letter”.
Presumably, Fr Twomey’s call would apply to Cardinal Connell if he were still in office. Yet, despite the cardinal’s own admission that he made many mistakes in dealing with the issue, I know of no bishop who learned more from those mistakes. When he retired he left to his successor effective structures for responding to complaints of child abuse – and promoting child protection – in the Dublin archdiocese, which he reviewed continually in the light of experience. They were refined into a model for any diocese by the time he left office seven years ago. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – When I volunteered to work with a class of children, helping with their homework, I had to be vetted by the Garda. If I want to volunteer for other work, I have to be re-vetted. Why cannot all men be Garda-vetted before they enter the seminary and before every appointment in a parish or school? There are many good, sincere and sympathetic priests in this country but this would surely weed out the bad ones. – Yours, etc,