Sir, – As an Irish emigrant and a retired senior police officer with much experience investigating serious crime, I am at a loss to understand why the Garda Síochána and the prosecuting authorities have not taken action against senior church members.
They must be awash with evidence of very serious crimes including assisting offenders and perverting the course of justice.
Their inaction is disturbing and is reminiscent of the Ireland I grew up in in the 1940s and 50s. – Yours, etc,
JOHN HARRINGTON, Maplewell Road, Woodhouse, Eaves, Leicestershire, England.
Sir, – May I remind your correspondents that the Irish clergy do not tell lies. They call it “mental reservation”. – Yours, etc,
JOHN GOLDEN, Blackheath Park, London, England.
Sir, – The Rite of Confession includes confession and absolution. In the case of a priest having doubts about child welfare, could absolution not be held off until proof is given that the individual has contacted the relevant authorities? – Yours, etc,
CLAIRE WALSH, Swiftbrook Close, Tallaght, Dublin 24.
Sir, – Revd Patrick Burke (July 15th), in questioning how well considered the Minister for Justice’s proposal to over-ride the seal of the confessional as part of his mandatory reporting legislation is, points out that Article 44 of the Constitution protects the practice of religion and asks if another referendum will he necessary to deal with the issue. Pardon the pun, but in this case, the devil is very much in the detail.
Section 44.2.1, states that ” Freedom of conscience and free profession and practice of religion are, subject to public order and morality, guaranteed to every citizen.” Presumably the protection of children from sexual abuse falls within the ambit of public order and morality. – Yours, etc,
GEAROID O DUBHAIN, Clarkeswood, Mount Oval Village, Rochestown, Cork.
Sir, – Waiting for a genuine apology from the Catholic Church or compliance with recommendations from inquiries into child abuse is pointless. This institution has had decades to put its house in order and the recent findings from the Cloyne report demonstrate its reluctance to do so. Bishop Magee was found to have engaged in “false book keeping” whereby he produced one true account of events for the Vatican and a falsified version for diocesan files. This failure to give a true account of themselves clearly demonstrates that the leadership is morally bankrupt.
Far better to turn away from empty promises and ensure that in future child protection legislation is robust in its enforcement and not superseded by canon law.
Having thrown off the colonial past, the Republic needs now to counter the abuse and misuse of power by the Catholic Church. – Yours, etc,
MARIE PARKER-JENKINS, Professor of Education, University of Limerick.
Sir, – Among the more outrageous letters you have printed from the lynch-mob of church detractors (July 15th), Richard Galvin’s plea that the Catholic Church in Ireland close its doors like some cheap tabloid rag, stands out as particularly thought-provoking.
Imagine for a second the church decided to do exactly that. Imagine the Pope issued a papal decree that recalled (and gave Vatican citizenship to) all Irish clergy. Imagine the church closed and put up for sale, with immediate effect, all schools, churches, hospices and other parts of its privately-owned infrastructure.
Would the atheists and ex-catholic secularists truly be happy with the result? The State could probably buy up most of the school premises on auction – oh, no wait, the State is completely broke due to the same blind greed and immorality the church has always taught against.
Therefore, the kids of 93 per cent of parents would have nowhere to go in September. Funerals? Weddings? Christenings? Go see the Junior Minister for Solemn Ceremonies.
How outraged would the secularists be then, if the church actually did what they ask, exercising the same rights to freely dispose of its private property and change jobs which they so blithely take for granted? Or should we admit, after all, that the church has a moral duty to continue its work, and that the most constructive thing the laity can do is work together with priests to achieve meaningful reform, accepting that 2,000-year-old institutions sometimes have difficulty with change?
This should go without saying, but let me be clear that I am not condoning priests who abuse children. I also condemn parents who abuse their children (which account for over 80 per cent of all abuse cases), yet remain a firm believer in parenthood as a vital social practice. – Yours, etc,
GRAHAM STULL, Square Ambiorix, Brussels, Belgium.
Sir, – The Cloyne report is the latest exposé which contributes to the exhausting struggle for survival of those affected and harmed by clerical sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. In the wake of the Cloyne revelations, the Holy Father should dismiss Bishop John Magee and Monsignor Denis O’Callaghan from the clerical state. These men should never again be allowed to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, or administer any of the Lord’s Sacraments. They should spend the rest of their lives in penance, pleading that the millstone, described by Christ in the Gospel, will not bring their immortal souls to Hell when they die.
Any other bishop, North or South of the Border, found to have snubbed their noses at the Church’s Child Protection Policies and Procedures, as John Magee and his administration did, must be barred from the church’s sacred ministry and exposed as the “hired hands” Jesus warned us about in St John’s Gospel, Chapter 10. Errant, negligent and incompetent bishops, along with their so-called legal and canonical “advisors”, are as lethal to the church and its mission as sexual predators among the ranks of the clergy. – Yours, etc,
Fr PATRICK McCAFFERTY, Lower Rathmines Road, Dublin 6.
A chara, – The Catholic Church has fundamental problems with sexual morality, transparency and is at variance with the law of the land on several significant points. The papal nuncio must be expelled and our schools must be taken back at once. To do anything else would suggest we find nothing wrong with the continuing abuses. – Is mise,
EOGHAN Ó MURCHADHA, Lána Craorag, Gleann Cuilinn, Baile Átha Cliath 18.
Sir, – How come an enlightened and well educated nation like the Irish feel they need a Pope to rule over their religious lives? Let’s cut ourselves off from Rome! Horrified? Well just answer this question, if Jesus returned to earth tomorrow would he take up residence in the Vatican? – Yours, etc,
GRETA KELLY, Maolnagearagh, Clonakilty. Co Cork.
Sir, – When are we going to wake up? Charlie Flanagan has got it right (Home News, July 15th). How long are we going to tolerate an undemocratic foreign state interfering in the internal affairs of our country? The Vatican ambassador should be expelled immediately.
Having already had to put up with the Roman Catholic hierarchy blathering on about “mental reservations”, do we now have to indulge their specious waffling about “sacerdotal privilege”?
Have we not had enough evidence of the baleful influence of “deference” and “privilege” in this country? As a nation we have been kissing the rings of these clowns for long enough. It’s time we grew up and got up off our knees. – Yours, etc,
PAUL MCGUIRK, Summerfield Close, Dalkey Avenue, Dalkey, Co Dublin.
Sir, – According to the plans put forward by the Minister for Justice, Alan Shatter, priests could be jailed for up to five years for failing to disclose information on serious offences against a child even if this was obtained in Confession (Home News, July 15th). Church law relating to the “seal of confession” stretches back to the Council of the Lateran in 1215 which declared that a priest be deposed if he broke the seal of confession and present canon law adds on automatic excommunication for the priest who breaks this “seal”, an excommunication which can only be lifted by the Pope himself.
Some clerical sex abuse offenders deliberately tie the hands of their superior by admitting to them their sexual abuse during confession. But there is much confusion about this practice and the casuistry of “mental reservations” is often invoked.
Take the case of “Fr Caden” as outlined in the Cloyne report. Bishop Magee reported to Rome that this priest had admitted his sexual abuse of children and he duly reported this to the Vatican’s Congregation for the doctrine of the faith. But in another account of the same meeting for his diocese Bishop Magee reported that “Fr Caden” had been shocked and had denied the allegation. The suggestion for the discrepancy between the two reports is that one was obtained in confession and the other was not. However if this is true then Bishop Magee should have been automatically excommunicated for breaking the “seal of confession”even if it was for the benefit of Rome or is it the case that a priest/bishop can break the seal of confession when he reports the sexual abuse to the Pope.
It is recommended professional practice for counsellors and psychotherapists to warn their clients before any session that they cannot be bound by the norms of absolute confidentiality if some grave revelations are made during the course of the session. Equally it should be made very plain that the “seal of confession” cannot be used/abused to hide criminal offences especially committed against children .
How can a priest live with his conscience when he sees a self-confessed serial abuser of children, absolved from guilt, walk from his confessional knowing that this serial abuser will only be outside the church door before he restarts his murder of the souls of the children of God? – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN BUTLER, The Moorings, Malahide, Co Dublin.