ARMAGH:About 350 of the Catholic faithful listened to Cardinal Brady summarising Pope Benedict's pastoral letter abuse in St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh on Saturday morning.
They lined up for copies of the letter, quietly exited and gathered their thoughts.
“What’s happening hasn’t damaged my faith but it has damaged the church,” said Ian Evans. A Welsh Baptist who converted to Catholicism 20 years ago, and his wife Margaret, said they were encouraged by the letter. Despite terrible abuse and cover-ups there was an opportunity for renewal, they believed. “I am very impressed by the pope’s and the cardinal’s honesty and determination to put things right,” Ian added.
Annette O’Hara (48), worried how her three children had abandoned the church. She was uncertain how the letter would play, particularly with young people.
“I have a son turning 21 who is getting married but who said to me last night he is not going to get married in a Catholic church, he is going to get married in a registry office, and all because of this.” She said compulsory celibacy was in her view a “big factor” in scandals afflicting the church, and she felt this was an issue Pope Benedict should also have addressed.
CARLOW:Outside Carlow Cathedral, exiting massgoers had mixed reactions.
Ena Doyle (61) said the papal letter contained “a lot of sympathy” and “has helped” but she wanted to “sit down and read it in full”.
Willie O’Leary (66) thought it was “pretty good” but he was still angry about members of the clergy who had abused children. But, he said, the revelations had not shaken his faith and added: “I still believe in the man above.”
John Walsh (50) said he and his family, who have “deep faith”, had been “absolutely disgusted by the cover-up” [by church authorities]. On the pope’s letter, he said, “there’s a lot to be studied there”.
Gale Scanlan (50), a mother of two children, said she was “disappointed but not surprised by the content” of the pope’s letter. She said that to blame child abuse on “increased secularisation” was “complete evidence of the lack of connection between the church hierarchy – male-dominated and removed from the day-to-day goings on of life – and the reality”.
GALWAY:"I think the pope did say he was sorry, which was good," said Gerry Thornton from Woodquay, Galway, after hearing mass at Galway Cathedral. "I think it would be a good idea if he came to Ireland and met victims of abuse."
Frank Daly from Newcastle, Galway said he read the pastoral letter on the internet before he came to mass. “It is good to see the pope is focusing on Ireland and it isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ type of letter. However, I notice he seems to be blaming secular influences for some of the change in the church, but a lot of the abuse happened before there were such secular influences.”
Fine Gael councillor and former mayor of Galway, Pádraig Conneely said: “The problem is that people are very confused and don’t know what to believe.
“The church is losing trust, slowly but surely, because every week there is a new revelation.
“I’d agree with Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin that the truth has to come out. This is never going to come to an end until it does. And the idea of separating out canon law just doesn’t hold any more.
“It is time to put canon law on the shelf. In relation to Dr Drennan’s position, the pope was obviously pointing the finger at bishops, but where does collective responsibility come into it?
“Dr Drennan is a good man but he was caught up in a culture which is worldwide, and it is his call as to what he decides to do,” he added.
FARRAN, CO CORK: Among massgoers, few wanted to be drawn on Pope Benedict's XVI's letter. Those who did speak showed a certain reluctance and caution as they proffered their views.
“It’s hard to say,” said Stephen McCarthy, a middle-aged man. “People are hurt. There’s a big hurt there and it will be there for our lifetime anyway and I suppose for the lifetimes after us as well – it’s a problem that will have to be dealt with for generations, the hurt.”
Dan Kelleher from Kilcrea agreed: “It’s very hard for people to forget it – it’s probably after happening in all walks of life – maybe it coming out in the church is the start of it and other walks of life will start coming down with it as well.”
A group of younger men refused to be drawn on the issue before one of them, stressing he didn’t want to be named, said: “Bishop Buckley is a nice man, genuine like, but I think the whole church should be disbanded from the top down, the whole lot of them, disbanded.”
DONNYBROOK, DUBLIN:Speaking after morning mass at the Sacred Heart Church in Donnybrook, parishioner Perdita Quinlan said: "I was disappointed generally. I feel he needs to get his own church in order. When he was bishop in Munich he did nothing about it and now he's coming pointing the finger at us. I felt it was disappointing. I expected different, I expected better."
Ria Haughey from Armagh, said she thought there was humility in the message. “I feel today I could nearly cry. I felt a little bit encouraged by it because we’re all very hurt as Catholics because we love our church. What would we have if we didn’t have our church? We are all human and people do wrong but it’s recognising you’ve done wrong and being ready to repent. It’s admission of guilt and I think it’s a start.”
Gerald Herradura, originally from the Philippines, said: “It is like the Gospel today . . . the people wanted to cast the stone but Jesus said to the people, if there is one of you that has not sinned, throw the first stone . . . When the priest was reading it I felt a little bit emotional because it is from his heart.”
Graham Charles, Blackrock, said: “Obviously he was apologising for what happened but I don’t know if it’s going to affect people who were actually abused . . . I don’t know if it goes far enough for people who were hurt in the first place.”
Dominic Madden, Ranelagh said: “The apology was good and I think it was about time. Hopefully it will do some good . . . people like myself who have come to mass – we have come not because of the priests but for the mass.”
Liz McDermott, Donnybrook said: “I just think that if you process your faith and you try to live it out then hate the sin; love the sinner. It’s very hard to live it out but that’s what I try to do. I do think that we have to work through it and pray as a nation to try and restore something of the very valuable spirituality that this country has.”
LIMERICK:At St Joseph's Church, Seamus O'Donovan from Limerick city said he was not happy with the pontiff's response. "I think he has some cheek to suggest that we offer up our Friday abstinence in penance over this. I think the pope needs to consider his position given what we know about what went on in Germany when he was a bishop there."
Denis Broderick from Ballinacurra said he was happy with the letter: “I was quite pleased with it,” he said. “I thought it got a good reception in the church and people seemed to take it on board.”
Sister Phyllis Halpin of the Faithful Companions of Jesus felt the letter was adequate. “It was positive and very well crafted. I think it addressed all strands of life and all those involved. It is time that this was dealt with properly.”
Reports by Lorna Siggins, Barry Roche, Áine de Paor, Gerry Moriarty, Pamela Duncan and Michael Parsons.