There is growing anxiety among the country's 5,500 priests about spuriousand unsubstantiated allegations of abuse. Father John Littleton, of thePriests' Conference, tells Patsy McGarry why clerics feel vulnerable and isolated.
Dublin priests have expressed deep concern about the standing down from ministry recently of a colleague against whom child sex-abuse allegations have been made.
The accused priest is held in high regard by colleagues, who point out that in almost 40 years of priesthood his was an unsullied reputation.
The priests believe a grave injustice is being perpetrated in this case and on the basis of one unsubstantiated allegation going back 20 years, which many of them believe to be spurious.
The accused priest has had to leave his parish, in accordance with the 1996 bishops' guidelines on handling such cases.
Gardaí and health authorities have been informed, and an inquiry has been initiated by the diocese, also in accordance with the guidelines.
The case illustrates well a growing sense of anxiety experienced by priests throughout Ireland at present.
Father John Littleton, president of the National Conference of Priests of Ireland (NCPI), who was not familiar with the Dublin case referred to above, said: "Priests feel very vulnerable, very isolated just now".
Interviewed by The Irish Times yesterday, he said there was increasing concern about justice and rights for priests in the context.
"We don't know when someone might make an allegation," he said.
The NCPI, which represents the approximately 5,500 priests in the country, was not a trade union, he pointed out, and all priests were bound by a vow of obedience to their bishop or religious superior.
"We don't have the same protection as others in employment" in their dealings with superiors, he said.
And where the handling of the clerical child sex-abuse issue by bishops/superiors was concerned, "the pendulum has swung full circle" now, he said.
Priests were stood down from ministry at the least hint of allegation, often without being given details of what was alleged.
And even if nothing emerged on investigation; if no charges were brought, no evidence produced, no case pursued, the priest's good name remained tarnished and he would most probably be appointed to another parish.
"Principles of justice require that a priest know the nature of the accusations," Father Littleton said.
Currently such an accused priest was often left in limbo, with the bishop/superior, in instances, simply "wishing he would just disappear".
This affected the morale of fellow priests also, who felt it was not just unfair but that it could also happen to any one of them.
If a credible allegation was made, a priest should be stood down, but not where allegations were "spurious or nonsensical", he said.
And where a priest was cleared of an allegation, his name should be restored publicly, particularly where his removal was public. There should be "public affirmation" of his innocence.
Father Littleton believed bishops/superiors had become "supersensitive" in their handling of such allegations.
They were anxious to avoid being held criminally culpable and wanted to protect themselves and the diocese/congregation from financial liability, as well as being concerned to show that the priority now was the protection of children.
He was adamant that all allegations must be taken seriously. But they should be investigated thoroughly and quickly, as there was further injustice where an innocent man was stood down and this investigative part of the process was delayed.
He said that he also felt strongly that people who made false accusations with malicious intent should suffer the consequences.
In Ireland now, even when priests went on administrative leave, took a sabbatical, went on holidays or were absent for any entirely innocent reason, there was frequently a presumption that they had been accused of something. "People think the worst," he said.
Men who left the priesthood for genuine reasons now also felt they, too, were being regarded with suspicion.
For the latter reason he believed bishops shouldn't say, as has been said, there were no allegations against priests currently ministering in a diocese.
This could be seen as casting "subtle innuendo" on those no longer ministering there, even where that was not intended.
In general, priests felt ashamed and embarrassed by the behaviour of colleagues who had committed "very serious and very grievous sin" and had been "very badly handled" by church authorities, he said.
And, he pointed out, while all this was emerging, it was the priests who were in the front line, attending to Masses, funerals, weddings, First Communions etc.
Before the scandals people had grouped priests and bishops/superiors together as "the clergy". Now, he felt, the people saw bishops/superiors as "the clergy", while priests were being grouped with the people as "us".
He believed the church had put in place practical guidelines for the protection of children in the future. But he also felt it still had not adequately responded to how it had handled the issue in the past, or to victims from then.
More broadly he felt it important for all to understand that child sex abuse seemed to be rampant in society.
He referred to a Royal College of Surgeons survey last year, which showed the incidence of child sex abuse here was far higher than in the US or the rest of Europe.