Madam, - The Church must also extend compassion to clerical abusers, argues Dr Marie Keenan (Rite and Reason, March 11th). No true Christian would disagree with her. Sex offenders - clerical and otherwise - should not be shunned by society or, worse, abandoned to a lynch-mob mentality.
However, the most truly compassionate and loving way for the Christian community and any humane society to take care of sexual predators is to create an atmosphere of maximum safety for the young, who remain in grave danger from the recidivism of offenders. For that very reason, sexual abusers must be meticulously policed and rigorously monitored.
Clerical abusers - like all others who commit crimes of sexual violation - are notorious for denying the seriousness of their offences. How many have truly repented and sincerely asked forgiveness from God and from those whose lives they have submerged in suffering?
When it comes to the important area of forgiveness, there are some in the institutional Church who, for reasons of pure self-interest, have often played the "forgiveness card" with victims as a form of spiritual and emotional blackmail. The onus to forgive - and any "blame" for not forgiving - is placed on the innocent victim who was raped and preyed upon.
Trite remarks are made to victims, such as: "You must forgive and forget; move on with your life", etc. You might as well say to someone who has been shot in the head: "Ah, sure you'll be grand".
The minimising of the serious long-term harm caused by rape and sexual assault - is well-documented and makes a mockery of the Christian Gospel of love, compassion, justice and forgiveness.
Clerical abusers are in need of profound conversion from their deep-seated tendencies to selfishness, sociopathy, narcissism, denial and self-preservation. In need of similar conversion and repentance for the same evils are some bishops, who have facilitated abusers and colluded in the cover-up and playing down of crimes committed against young members of Christ's Body.
The words of Christ found in the Gospels are utterly uncompromising in their severity against those who would harm "these little ones". The truly loving approach, therefore, to clerical abusers, is to confront them - again and again - with the magnitude of their offences, in the hope that they will truly repent and thus escape far worse penalties than a few years in prison.
Part of their earthly penance should be dismissal from the clerical state, forfeiting the privilege of ministering as priests - on account of their searing betrayal and for the protection of youth.
At the same time, there exists, as Dr Keenan has pointed out, the need for a compassionate and caring ministry to such men and the Church has a duty to discern the appropriate form of such an outreach.
- Yours, etc,
Fr PATRICK McCAFFERTY, Lower Rathmines Road, Dublin 6.