Marie Collins, who was abused as a child in 1960 by Father Paul McGenis, accepted an invitation from Cardinal Desmond Connell last December to help the diocese deal with the issue. She writes here about her experience in her new role.
Agreeing to get involved with the Diocese of Dublin was not easy. My contact with them in the past had brought me nothing but pain. However, if there was a chance that their expression of a willingness to learn from victims was sincere, then I had to give it a chance.
Mr Eddie Shaw, the part-time Director of Communications, was given responsibility for co-ordinating my involvement and that of Mr Ken Reilly. He has been very committed to the process throughout and met us many times. Contact with clerical members of the diocese has been very limited.
I feel that while the Cardinal has welcomed our involvement and now recognises the imperative of change, others do not have the same commitment. The Chancellor's office is particularly busy with legal aspects of the abuse problem and has not shown as much urgency or interest in moving forward the matters discussed at the 30th December meeting.
The slowness with which everything moves at an administrative level in the diocese has been a revelation. Even the simplest task, dealt with in the lay world in a week, takes months. Whether bureaucratic inefficiency or just a mindset that feels there is no need for haste - the church will be around in 100 years, so why hurry? - I don't know, but it is extremely frustrating.
The eight months since the 30th December meeting has been a rocky road. We met Mr David Kennedy, the chairman of the Independent Advisory Panel, early in January. In March he invited us to give them a short talk. Since then we have had no contact and no involvement in any panel deliberations on the setting up of the new Child Protection Office.
This is disappointing as it was the primary focus of our invitation to work with the diocese. And yet I feel that our presence, even on the periphery, has had an effect in pushing forward the setting up of this office. With the appointment of a director, we may have a more active involvement.
It was a shock in February to find that the victim support system set out in the Church Guidelines of 1996 had not been used for over five years despite repeated public assurances that the guidelines had been followed to the letter. The reason given? That it didn't work!
I discovered that the same system is in place in a number of other dioceses. Yet Dublin had not made any effort to check if it was working elsewhere and learn from those operating it successfully. Diocese does not talk to diocese; each jealously protects its independence and its power base.
This isolationism can be seen again in the new Dublin child protection structures being set up independently of the national office. In the matter of child protection, this must change. Countrywide co-ordination of resources, sharing of information and uniform implementation of child protection policies is vital.
We brought the support system failure to Cardinal Connell's attention immediately. He approved the use of any resources needed to put in place an emergency victim support system to bridge the gap until the new Child Protection Office was set up. Ken and I have been involved in the preparatory work, but six months on from the recognition of the need and it was still not in operation.
Instead, it has been decided to integrate it into the new Child Protection Office when it comes on stream. Recently an interim Child Protection policy for working with children and young people has been prepared and circulated to all dioceses. This is intended for use until the new national policy is introduced in 2004. Hopefully there will not be the same delay.
Among the other areas discussed in December were more open communication; training of church members in how to help victims and particularly handle disclosures of abuse; ongoing victim support and future child protection.
When the lack of a victim support system in the Dublin diocese was discovered, we asked for a statement admitting the failure as soon as possible. Despite assurances, time passed with no statement. I protested and was told it had been decided to defer the statement until a new support system was developed. At that point I indicated my intention to withdraw from the process, as promises were being broken.
Following further discussions, the statement was eventually released on March 14th. I have little doubt that its issuing was delayed by the legal eagles of the diocese. This legal stranglehold has to change before any openness in communication will happen. As regards helping church members improve their understanding of the impact of abuse on victims, plans have been discussed but nothing has yet been put in place. We have given talks to the seminarians in Maynooth and these will continue.
Although I have had doubts along the way, I do not regret my decision of the 30th December. It has been frustrating, but I never felt it would be easy. A gross deficiency in victim support has been recognised and will soon be remedied whilst progress has been made in the setting up of the Child Protection Office.
Meeting Archbishop Diarmuid Martin recently, I was impressed by his sincerity in wanting to improve things. So I look forward with hope that this is the beginning of changing times. It has to be.
While the State comes to grips with its handling of child abuse in institutions, the Catholic Church in Dublin has also tried to deal with similar institutional difficulties.