AN EDITED version of a report by Vatican-appointed churchmen into child sexual abuse in Ireland and how the issues arising for the Catholic Church might be addressed has been published. Apart from expressing support for child protection measures already in place, the emphasis was on orthodoxy and control, while assisting “the local church” on the path of renewal.
Little effort was made to chart the injury done to vulnerable children by a small number of rapacious individuals. A line was being drawn under a succession of dismal chapters involving decades of clerical and religious abuse, along with denials and cover-ups.
Cardinal Seán Brady described the document as primarily pastoral, designed to contribute to ongoing spiritual and moral renewal of the Catholic Church in Ireland. It was, he said, different in nature and focus from those undertaken by the National Board for Safeguarding Children and the various State investigations and was designed to provide a signpost to future priorities and directions. If that is so, further friction with the Government, particularly in relation to education, can be expected.
Rather than indicate any reduced religious control of education, the report calls for a careful review of the training of teachers of religion. Catholic identity of schools and their relationship to their parishes, it suggests, should ensure a sound and well-balanced education. There seems to be little appetite for the kind of extensive reform of the primary education system that Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn has in mind
Concern was expressed over a “fairly widespread” tendency among priests and laity to disagree with papal teaching and the visiting churchmen felt this required particular attention. Greater involvement with communities and members of the laity was favoured but, the report declared, dissent from fundamental church teachings was “not the authentic path towards renewal”. Concern for orthodoxy, obedience and control were consistent features, offering little hope for change in relation to the ordination of married men or women priests. Instead, it noted that to prepare for religious celibacy, lived “faithfully and joyfully”, seminary buildings should be used exclusively by seminarians as this would ensure “a well-founded priestly identity”. Such an arrangement has a downside in reducing opportunities for meaningful engagement with Irish laity anxious to rebuild and to re-establish trust throughout the church.
One in Four, which supports clerical abuse victims, said the Vatican was refusing to acknowledge its role in covering up abuse and had rejected all claims for financial compensation. There is nothing new in that. The Vatican has consistently claimed immunity from sexual abuse litigation around the world on the basis of a legally crafted distinction between the “local church” and Rome. It remains to be seen whether that legal buttress will stand. Of more immediate concern is a suggestion that, while senior Irish churchmen are expressing public remorse, they are filing vigorous legal defences in civil compensation cases. That kind of disingenuous behaviour represents a throwback to the bad old days.