People such as Cardinal Sean Brady and Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams who has been forced to admit publicly that they concealed the rape of children could face prosecution under new child protection legislation to be introduced by Minister for Justice, Alan Shatter. While cowardly, Church friendly Fianna Fail promised such legislation in their 1997 election manifesto they preferred not to introduce the legislation and instead bailout religious child rapists with 1 Billion Euro of tax payers money.
The publication of the Cloyne report represents “another dark day in the history of the response of church leaders to the cry of children abused by church personnel,” the Catholic Primate of All Ireland Cardinal Seán Brady has said.
In a statement released this afternoon Dr Brady said the report confirms “grave errors” of judgement occurred with serious “failures" of leadership.
“This is deplorable and totally unacceptable,” he said. “I apologise and express my shame and sorrow at what has happened.”
Although Dr Brady said the current church environment for children “is a totally different one to that of the past”, he called for the introduction of legislation to support mandatory reporting of allegations of child sexual abuse to the statutory authorities.
Dr Brady said one of the positive aspects to come out of the report is the confirmation that the church-established structures of review and accountability have been proven to work effectively.
However, the report states that a decision by the Vatican to brand a framework document on child sexual abuse, agreed by the Irish Bishops Conference in 1996, as “not an official document” effectively gave individual Irish bishops “the freedom to ignore” the guidelines.
The Archbishop of Cashel and Emly Dermot Clifford said he is appalled by the “depth of damage and suffering” caused by a minority of clergy in the diocese.
“Great pain was also caused to the families of those abused, whose strong relationship with the catholic church was damaged or destroyed.”
Dr Clifford said the fact that 13 years after church guidelines were put in place they were still not being implemented in the diocese of Cloyne meant authorities “failed” some of those who were abused.
Dr Clifford, who was appointed Apostolic Administrator to the Cloyne diocese after Bishop John Magee stepped aside in May 2009, apologised to all who suffered and their families.
“It is a very sad day for all the priests and people in the diocese of Cloyne…We sincerely hope that our responses to complaints and the ongoing efforts in safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults in the diocese will go some of the way to atone for the grave failures of the past," he said. "Such failures must never be permitted to happen again."
Bishop of Down and Connor Noel Treanor said the report reminds the church of the need to remain “vigilant and self critical” to ensure that there can be no recurrence of these past “disgraceful failings”.
“No words of apology from me for the culture of self protection in the Irish church at the expense of survivors of abuse can, in themselves, ease the pain of those who have suffered and continue to suffer as a result of the abuses of the past…Nevertheless, I apologise once again to all those who have suffered in any way.”
He added that the first duty of the Church now is to listen to the “cry of survivors and help them to cope with the continuing pain with which they have been burdened by the sins of clergy.”
“Although much has been done to advance safeguarding and many trained volunteers are now working very effectively in our parishes, we still have a way to travel to regain the full trust of the people,” he said.
In a statement Bishop of Kilmore Leo O'Reilly said he felt a “great disappointment and dismay” that the authorities failed to implement agreed procedures leaving children at risk.
“Their failure has compounded the suffering of those who have been abused and their families.”
He said the report is a reminder of the necessity for bishops and those in authority to be vigilant and pro-active in ensuring that the safeguarding children procedures are “fully and consistently” implemented in dioceses.
And he appealed for anyone with information regarding child sexual abuse by priests in the Kilmore diocese to make contact with a designated person, the Garda Síochána, the Health Service Executive or a support service of their choice.
