The Irish Bishops' Conference summer meeting which takes place at St Patrick's College, Maynooth, over these next three days, is being held against a backdrop of deepening crisis.
This circumstance has been contributed to, in no small way, by the bishops themselves, as has the perception that, in their handling of the various sex-abuse scandals, they have consistently placed the welfare of the institution before their duty of responsibility to those with whose care, spiritual and otherwise, they have been charged.
It might be said too that their abuse of power in the treatment of those who tried to have them behave - where the sex abuse issue is concerned - in a manner more consistent with the teachings of their Church's founder has added to their current difficulty.
It is over two months since the bishops announced an independent internal audit on how each diocese has handled complaints about clerical child abuse over the decades. After that same extraordinary general meeting on April 8th, following the resignation of Bishop Brendan Comiskey, they also promised to extend the powers of their Child Protection Office. They spoke then of "the justifiable anger and distress that have been highlighted in recent days" and their "real sense of urgency" about the need to establish the full truth about how complaints of child abuse have been dealt with in the dioceses. They expressed their "deepest apologies for inadequacies in our response" to the pain of victims. There has been nothing since.
Apologists explain that as 26 dioceses are involved, arriving at agreement is proving difficult. The issues, however, are matters of principle, not geography. It is also said the bishops are torn on the issue of confidentiality between a bishop and priest, and whether matters emerging from this relationship should be divulged to a third party e.g. a state investigation. They are also very anxious that the innocence of alleged perpetrators of abuse be given utmost protection until guilt is proven.
This latter concern is to be commended. It would, however, carry greater weight were it matched by a display of equal concern for the innocence of victims. Sadly, this would not appear to be so, as the experiences of Mrs Marie Collins with the Dublin Archdiocese; Colm O'Gorman, Pat Jackman, Donnacha McGloin, and Damien McAleer with Ferns diocese; and Father Gerard McGinnity at Maynooth, illustrate. The bishops must begin to marry words with actions if they are to retain any crediblity in this tragedy.