GERARD BURNS,
Sir, - Like a great many other practising Catholics in this country, I have watched with shock, disbelief and an increasing sense of anger as the litany of sexual abuse cases involving Catholic clergy, both here and abroad, has unfolded.
A considerable number of the clerics involved, particularly in America, are now in prominent positions within the Church. Did none of these men consider that their own personal failings, to put it no stronger than that, should have debarred them from such elevation within the Church?
To go to a lower level, did they not fear that at some stage "their sins might find them out", or were those who were involved in sexual irregularities so confident that this would never happen that they felt no need even to consider such an eventuality?
This prompts the further question: was the confidence that information of this kind could always be securely held within the Church a factor in allowing these men to be promoted in the first place?
Finally, in relation to Pope John Paul's message to the Catholic Church leaders in the US that "sexual abuse of minors was both a crime and a sin": what kind of message is this sending out to the rest of us mere mortals who try to live our lives according to the dictates of the Church?
Is the Church so steeped in hedonism that its leaders need to be reminded of this basic fact, or is the current Pope so out of touch with what is happening on the ground that he is unaware of the increasing tide of anger and disgust which these endless revelations of double standards within the Church is provoking among Catholics? The time for keeping things "under wraps" within the Church on this matter has long gone.
There was never a greater need for plain speaking and for strong leadership, but on the evidence of what I have read of the Pope's recent pronouncements or seen on television of the recent deliberations by the Irish bishops, I have less and less confidence that it will be forthcoming. I would dearly love to be proven wrong. - Yours, etc.,
GERARD BURNS,
Richhill,
Co Armagh.
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Sir, - The reported legal agreement signed between the outgoing Minister for Education and certain religious orders within the Irish Catholic Church in the dying days of the last Government granting immunity from potential lawsuits taken by victims of child abuse in residential institutions beggars belief.
This arrangement is, to my mind, extremely offensive to victims and their families and confirms not for the first time the apparent unhealthy relationship and collusion between successive administrations and this Church since the foundation of the Irish State.
I fail to understand why any professional person would enter into such an agreement. At the very least it adds insult to injury and further burdens taxpayers, including victims of abuse, unnecessarily.
The late Dr Noel Browne spoke volumes when he delivered his public lecture on "Church and State in Modern Ireland" in Queen's University, Belfast, in February 1991.
At times one could be forgiven for thinking that Rome still very much rules in this part of Europe. - Yours, etc.,
PETER GAUGHAN,
Monkstown,
Co Dublin. _