A chara, – The results of the Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI survey of opinion on the church response to the Murphy report finds 83 per cent of people think the church has not responded adequately (Front page, June 14th). I agree that the response has not been adequate; and yet there are some aspects of the survey which need to be questioned. An understanding of what is "adequate" may be very subjective. For some, the definition of "adequate" may be nothing less than the resignation of all the bishops and the total exclusion of any church-associated group from all service in education and health-care; others may see such demands as excessive.
It is possible that a person could think the response of the church inadequate because of a lack of awareness of what has in fact already been done in the church in Ireland, and specifically in the diocese of Dublin which is the subject of the Murphy report. A short letter like this cannot cover the details; your readers may find more information on www.cps.dublindiocese.ie.
The level of provision for safeguarding children in Dublin diocese is now on a par with the best to be found anywhere. It is understandable and right that the media covered comprehensively the criticisms of how allegations of abuse were handled in the diocese in the period covered by the report. There has not been anything like the same level of coverage in the media of what has been set in place before and since the Murphy report. The diocese, too, could be far more pro-active in making these known – not in order to avoid the negative conclusions of the report, but to make this aspect of the facts better known.
The media have also been deficient in laying aside their usual critical approach, and have tended to accept the report en bloc, neglecting to look at where the report itself is deficient or wrong.
The response of the church in the Dublin diocese so far has also been less than adequate, in that almost all of what we have is the response of Archbishop Martin. It would be helpful to have had a considered response also from the people and priests of the diocese within a month of the publication of the report.
In relation to the poll finding that 76 per cent of respondents to the survey think that Cardinal Seán Brady should resign, we need to take into account another factor which is integral to the following of Jesus Christ. Simon Peter denied him three times at a critical juncture; by any normal human standards, this should have excluded him from any trusted ministry in the church. And yet Jesus used that as a springboard for a triple reconciliation and re-commissioning. A failure in the past does not necessarily have to lead to consequent exclusion. – Is mise,
PÁDRAIG McCARTHY,
Blackthorn Court,
Sandyford,
Dublin 16.