The Irish Times – Wednesday, March 21, 2012

CHARLIE TAYLOR, PAUL CULLEN and LORNA SIGGINS

THE VATICAN is still not accepting responsibility for its role in creating the culture of cover-ups of the sexual abuse of children, it was claimed yesterday.

One in Four, which supports survivors of abuse, expressed disappointment over what it said was the Vatican’s failure to acknowledge that its interventions in the abuse scandal had allowed church leaders to ignore guidelines and to protect the church at the expense of the safety of children.

“While we welcome the findings of the visitation that the Irish church now has good child protection practices in place, we feel it is a lost opportunity to address the role played by the Vatican in perpetuating the policy of protecting abusive priests at the expense of children,” said executive director of the organisation Maeve Lewis.

One in Four founder Colm O’Gorman said the seven-page summary of the visitation reports offered very little of value and was “almost farcical” in places.

Speaking on Newstalk radio, he said that while the church had put a number of guidelines in place, it had resolutely failed to follow or respect them.

“Nowhere in this statement or in any statement the Vatican has ever made, has it acknowledged its responsibility for the cover-up of these crimes for its failure to properly address these crimes at any point,” he said.

Abuse survivor Christine Buckley, of the Aíslínn Centre, said the Vatican had once again failed to acknowledge the enormous damage done to children. “It’s actually a regression instead of a progression,” she said.

Another abuse survivor, Andrew Madden, said the Vatican had “failed yet again to acknowledge and take responsibility for its role in facilitating a culture of cover-up which has caused the sexual abuse of so many children”.

The Rape Crisis Network of Ireland said the report was welcome but was not a substitute for accountability to State structures.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny said he was satisfied from his discussions with church authorities that it was giving full co-operation on child protection issues.

Speaking outside the White House after his meeting with US president Barack Obama, Mr Kenny said every agency working with children had a duty and a responsibility to work in full compliance with the Government as it worked to set in place proper child protection through a referendum to be held later this year.

Fianna Fáil said the report offered no new perspective on the abuse crisis but it highlighted the need for prompter action on a range of concrete child protection measures.

Sinn Féin said the report failed to acknowledge the full responsibility of church institutions.

Now that the Apostolic Visitation to certain Dioceses, Seminaries and Religious Institutes in Ireland has been concluded, it is intended here, in accordance with what was stated in the Communiqué of 6 June 2011, to offer an overall synthesis indicating the results and the future prospects highlighted by the Visitation.

It should be borne in mind that the Visitation was pastoral in nature; the Holy Father’s intention was that it should “assist the local Church on her path of renewal” (Pastoral Letter of the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI to the Catholics of Ireland, 19 March 2010). It was not intended to replace or supersede the ordinary responsibility of Bishops and Religious Superiors, nor to interfere “with the ordinary activity of the local magistrates, nor with the activity of the Commissions of Investigation established by the Irish Parliament, nor with the work of any legislative authority, which has competence in the area of prevention of abuse of minors” (Communiqué of the Holy See Press Office, 12 November 2010).

In communicating this summary of the Findings of the Apostolic Visitation, the Holy See re-echoes the sense of dismay and betrayal which the Holy Father expressed in his Letter to the Catholics of Ireland regarding the sinful and criminal acts that were at the root of this particular crisis.

*****
The Visitation to the Dioceses was carried out in the four Metropolitan Sees during the first few months of 2011. The four Visitators, accompanied by qualified and authorized persons and in coordination with the Archbishops of the Sees concerned, met individuals from the various categories listed in the Communiqué of 12 November 2010, along with others who requested a hearing, including representatives of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church. Special priority was given to the meetings with victims of abuse, who were assured of the particular closeness of the Holy Father. Some of the Archdioceses held very moving penitential liturgies in the Cathedrals, attended by clergy and members of the faithful, with the participation of victims of abuse in each case. These four Visitations included meetings with the suffraganeous Bishops and yielded sufficient information to provide an adequate picture of the situation of the Church in Ireland, such as to obviate the need to extend the Visitation to the suffraganeous Sees.

The Visitation to the Seminaries examined the situation of four Institutes: the Pontifical Irish College in Rome, Saint Malachy’s College in Belfast, and two Institutes in the Archdiocese of Dublin – the National Seminary, Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, and the Milltown Institute of the Society of Jesus. All Hallows College in Dublin informed the Visitator that it no longer offered a programme of priestly formation and consequently it was not included in the Visitation. Before visiting each of the Institutes, the Visitator was able to study documentation on the Colleges concerned. Upon arrival, with the assistance of several Bishops and priests, all previously approved by the Congregation for Catholic Education, the Visitator examined, to the extent possible, all aspects of priestly formation, along the lines indicated in the Press Communiqué of 31 May 2010. The Visitator and his assistants held individual meetings with formators and seminarians, as well as others holding positions of authority in the seminaries, including those responsible for the protection of minors. Priests ordained within the last three years were also invited to a personal conversation if they so wished. It should be pointed out that the Milltown Institute, which is more an academic centre than a seminary, was examined only with regard to the theological formation offered to future priests.

The Visitation to the Religious Institutes took place after careful study of the responses to the questionnaire that was sent to all Institutes with Religious houses in Ireland. The questionnaire sought to elicit information on the current safeguarding measures and policies adopted by each Institute and the effect of the present crisis on the Institute’s members. The Visitators then held various meetings with Bishops, Superiors and formators of the different communities and with any particular groups, including abuse victims, that requested a meeting, as well as representatives of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church. Meetings were held with the members of the Conference of Religious of Ireland, both in the common assemblies and in regional assemblies throughout the country. The Visitators had the opportunity to conduct extended visits to 31 Institutes. They estimate that, during the visit, they had the opportunity to dialogue with a significant portion of Religious in Ireland.

With a view to promoting the work of renewal called for by the Holy Father, the Congregation for Bishops and the Congregation for Catholic Education have carefully studied the information collected by the respective Visitators. Keeping in mind the provisions of the document Towards Healing and Renewal issued by the Irish Episcopal Conference, they have communicated their conclusions to the four Metropolitan Archbishops and to the Ecclesiastical Authorities of the seminaries visited, indicating courses of action. The Archbishops and the Ecclesiastical Authorities gave their responses. The Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and for Societies of Apostolic Life is likewise forwarding its conclusions to the Superiors of all Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life with houses in Ireland. A Summary Report will also be presented to the Apostolic Nuncio to be shared with the Bishops of Ireland.

*****
During their stay in Ireland, the Visitators were able themselves to see just how much the shortcomings of the past gave rise to an inadequate understanding of and reaction to the terrible phenomenon of the abuse of minors, not least on the part of various Bishops and Religious Superiors. With a great sense of pain and shame, it must be acknowledged that within the Christian community innocent young people were abused by clerics and Religious to whose care they had been entrusted, while those who should have exercised vigilance often failed to do so effectively. Indeed, “wounds have been inflicted on Christ’s body” (Pastoral Letter of the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI to the Catholics of Ireland, 19 March 2010). For these faults, forgiveness must once more be asked: from God and from the victims! As Blessed John Paul II said: “there is no place in the priesthood and religious life for those who would harm the young” (Address to the Cardinals of the United States, 23 April 2002).

At the same time the Visitators were able to verify that, beginning in the 1990s, progressive steps have been taken towards a greater awareness of how serious is the problem of abuse, both in the Church and society, and how necessary it is to find adequate measures in response.

The Visitation was also intended to determine whether the structures and procedures put in place by the Church in Ireland from that period onwards are adequate to ensure that the tragedy of the abuse of minors will not be repeated. In this regard, the Holy See has made the following observations:

Particular attention has been given to the assistance offered by the Church in Ireland to victims of past abuse. All the Visitators acknowledge that, beginning with the Bishops and Religious Superiors, much attention and care has been shown to the victims, both in terms of spiritual and psychological assistance and also from a legal and financial standpoint. It has been recommended, therefore, that, following the example given by Pope Benedict XVI in his meetings with victims of abuse, the Irish diocesan authorities and those of the Religious Institutes continue to devote much time listening to and receiving victims, providing support for them and their families.
Their meetings with the victims of abuse helped the Visitators to understand better various aspects of the problem of the sexual abuse of minors that took place in Ireland. The Visitators and the Church in Ireland are thankful for this contribution and want to assure them that their well-being is of paramount concern for the Church.
In their meetings with the chief officers of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church and various diocesan officials, the Visitators were able to verify that the current norms of Safeguarding Children: Standards and Guidance Document for the Catholic Church in Ireland (Guidelines) are being followed. The Visitators welcome the process, already initiated by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church, of regularly auditing the implementation of the Guidelines. It is recommended that this process of covering all Dioceses and Religious Institutes by regular audits will be implemented in a prompt manner.
In recent years the work of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church has been thorough and far-reaching, for which reason it should be supported by the Bishops, Religious Superiors and the whole community of the Church in Ireland, and it should continue to receive sufficient personnel and funding.
The Archbishops of the visited Archdioceses gave assurance that all newly-discovered cases of abuse are promptly brought before both the competent civil authority and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
The norms contained in the Guidelines, as well as the procedures to implement them, must be updated in accordance with the indications published on 3 May 2011 by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and also periodically revised. The Guidelines need to be amended in order to create a common model for all the Dioceses and Religious Institutes, and they should be periodically re-examined in order to ensure increasing effectiveness both in the work of prevention and in the response to cases of abuse in all the required aspects, for the good of everyone concerned.

In view of the shortage of personnel trained in canon law, the Visitators insisted on the need for a reorganization of Ireland’s ecclesiastical tribunals, to be carried out in cooperation with the competent bodies of the Holy See, so that the various cases still awaiting definitive resolution can be adequately processed.
The Visitators were struck by the efforts made throughout the country by Bishops, priests, Religious and lay persons to implement the Guidelines and to create safe environments. In the four Archdioceses, the results of these efforts were judged to be excellent. In addition to the large number of volunteers, they noted the presence of men and women within the various safeguarding structures who bring the highest level of professionalism to the service of the Christian community.

In the Visitation to the Seminaries, the following elements were examined: theological doctrine on the priesthood, seminary governance, questions regarding the admission of candidates to the seminary and assessment of them prior to ordination, the process of formation (human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral), and possible ways of assisting recently ordained priests. Particular attention was given to the admission of candidates and to programmes of spiritual and human formation aimed at enabling seminarians to live priestly celibacy faithfully and joyfully. The Visitation to the Seminaries gave priority to issues involving the protection of minors.

In this regard, the Holy See has made the following observations:

The Visitation was able to establish that there are dedicated formators in Irish seminaries, committed to the work of priestly training. The seminarians themselves were generally praised for their human and spiritual qualities and for their motivation and commitment to the Church and her mission. Studies are taken seriously, and attention is given to human and spiritual formation.

Each seminary has clear child protection norms in place and the Irish seminaries are committed to educating future priests with a broad understanding of all that is involved in the protection of minors within the Church.

For the further improvement of the seminaries, it has been proposed, wherever necessary:

to ensure that the formation provided is rooted in authentic priestly identity, offering a more systematic preparation for a life of priestly celibacy by maintaining a proper equilibrium between human, spiritual and ecclesial dimensions;
to reinforce structures of Episcopal governance over the seminaries;
to introduce more consistent admission criteria – this would involve the seminary, in consultation with the Dioceses, examining and deciding admissibility of candidates;
to show greater concern for the intellectual formation of seminarians, ensuring that it is in full conformity with the Church’s Magisterium;
to include in the academic programme in-depth formation on matters of child protection, with increased pastoral attention to victims of sexual abuse and their families;
to re-evaluate the pastoral programme, ensuring that it is sacramental, priestly and apostolic, and duly concerned with preparing candidates to celebrate the sacraments and to preach;
to ensure that the seminary buildings be exclusively for seminarians of the local Church and those preparing them for the priesthood, to ensure a well-founded priestly identity.

The task entrusted by the Holy See to the Visitators to Religious houses was twofold: 1) ensuring that all Religious Congregations have adequate protocols for safeguarding children and are implementing them; and 2) encouraging members of Institutes and Societies to a renewed vitality in their life and mission as Religious or members of Societies of Apostolic Life. In a spirit of cooperation with the Bishops, clergy and lay faithful of Ireland, the Superiors and members of Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life are encouraged to develop the resources at their disposal, so that they may be better equipped to meet the needs of those still suffering the effects of abuse. In the light of the immense contribution they have made in the past to the life of the Church in Ireland and their remarkable missionary outreach across the world, consecrated persons should renew their commitment to building communities capable of offering their members mutual support along the path towards holiness and capable of contributing effectively to the renewal of the entire local Church community.

In this regard, the Holy See has made the following observations:

The Religious in Ireland will join Bishops in mutual reflection, planning and support, revitalizing the instruments of dialogue and communion that have been envisioned by the Magisterium (cf. Mutuae Relationes). The Bishops themselves will convoke and lead the process of renewing dialogue and concrete collaboration in the field of safeguarding children, while also seeking to bring about a more effective and deeper communion between different and complementary charisms in the local Church.

The Major Superiors of each Institute in Ireland should design a programme for focusing anew over the next three years on the Institute’s fundamental sources, particularly the following of Christ as revealed in the Scriptures, and contained in the Apostolic Tradition of the Church’s teaching, the living of their vows in a contemporary context, and the life, works and charism of the founder of the Institute (Perfectae Caritatis; Vita Consecrata).

All Institutes should perform an audit of their personnel files, if such an audit has not yet been carried out. As in the case of the Dioceses, every Religious Congregation, active and contemplative, should perform the regular audit monitoring the implementation of the norms contained in the Guidelines, in coordination with the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church.

Major Superiors should develop, with the members of their Institutes, concrete means for revitalizing communities of prayer, community life and mission.

The Religious in Ireland are asked to consider developing a collaborative ministerial outreach to those suffering from the effects of abuse.

Based on the proposal of the Visitators and the observations made by various Dicasteries of the Holy See, it has been recommended that the Bishops of Ireland and Religious Superiors, in collaboration with the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church, should continue to examine and update the current Interim Guidance – Leave from Sacred Ministry and Apostolate for Clergy and Religious with a view to:

Formulating guidelines for handling the varied cases of those who have been accused, but in whose case the Director of Public Prosecution has decided not to proceed.

Formulating policies regarding the falsely accused and their return to ministry.

Formulating policies regarding the pastoral care of those who are convicted of abuse: the appropriate settings and the conditions under which such offenders should live.

*****

The Visitators have been able to establish that, over and above the suffering of the victims, the painful events of recent years have also opened many wounds within the Irish Catholic community. Many lay persons have experienced a loss of trust in their Pastors. Many good priests and Religious have felt unjustly tainted by association with the accused in the court of public opinion; some have not felt sufficiently defended by their Bishops and Superiors. Those same Bishops and Superiors have often felt isolated as they sought to confront the waves of indignation and at times they have found it difficult to agree on a common line of action.

On the other hand, this time of trial has also brought to light the continuing vitality of the Irish people’s faith. The Visitators have noted the exemplary way in which many Bishops, priests and Religious live out their vocation, the human and spiritual bonds among the faithful at a time of crisis, the deep faith of many men and women, a remarkable level of lay involvement in the structures of child protection, and the heartfelt commitment shown by Bishops and Religious Superiors in their task of serving the Christian community.

These are just some of the signs of hope that the Visitators have identified, alongside the various difficulties, in the life of the Church in Ireland. It is vitally important that, at a point in history marked by rapid cultural and social transformation, all the components of the Church in Ireland hear in the first place a renewed call to communion: communion among the Bishops themselves and with the Successor of Peter; communion between diocesan Bishops and their clergy; communion between Pastors and lay persons; and communion between diocesan structures and communities of consecrated life – communion that is not attained merely through human agreements or strategies, but above all by listening humbly to God’s Word and to what the Holy Spirit gives and asks of the Church in our day. Only a united Church can be an effective witness to Christ in the world.

Among the pastoral priorities that have emerged most strongly is the need for deeper formation in the content of the faith for young people and adults; a broad and well-planned ongoing theological and spiritual formation for clergy, Religious and lay faithful; a new focus on the role of the laity, who are called to be engaged both within the Church and in bearing witness before society, in accordance with the social teachings of the Church. There is a need to harness the contribution of the new Ecclesial Movements, in order better to reach the younger generation and to give renewed enthusiasm to Christian life. A careful review is needed of the training given to teachers of religion, the Catholic identity of schools and their relationship with the parishes to which they belong, so as to ensure a sound and well-balanced education.

Since the Visitators also encountered a certain tendency, not dominant but nevertheless fairly widespread among priests, Religious and laity, to hold theological opinions at variance with the teachings of the Magisterium, this serious situation requires particular attention, directed principally towards improved theological formation. It must be stressed that dissent from the fundamental teachings of the Church is not the authentic path towards renewal.

The Visitation also placed in question the present configuration of Dioceses in Ireland and their ability to respond adequately to the challenges of the New Evangelization. The Holy See and the local episcopate have already initiated a joint reflection on this matter, in which the communities concerned are to be involved, with a view to adapting diocesan structures to make them better suited to the present-day mission of the Church in Ireland.

Finally, the Visitation attested to the great need for the Irish Catholic community to make its voice heard in the media and to establish a proper relationship with those active in this field, for the sake of making known the truth of the Gospel and the Church’s life.

*****

For its part, the Holy See recalls the ongoing importance of the Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, which proposes an overall vision that can shed useful light on the pastoral priorities of the Church in Ireland, and on the special attention that must be given to the younger generation. The forthcoming International Eucharistic Congress will surely represent an important stage in this process, as will the subsequent National Mission, which it is hoped will provide all the members of the Church community with a fruitful opportunity for prayer, common reflection and instruction on the content of the Christian creed, in harmony with the Holy Father’s vision for the approaching Year of Faith. As Pope Benedict said in his Pastoral Letter to the Catholics of Ireland: “Through intense prayer before the real presence of the Lord, the Church in Ireland can make reparation for the sins of abuse that have done so much harm, at the same time imploring the grace of renewed strength and a deeper sense of mission on the part of all Bishops, priests, Religious and lay faithful.”

In the name of the Holy Father, heartfelt gratitude must once again be expressed to all those who worked so generously to ensure a fruitful outcome for the Apostolic Visitation – firstly, to the Visitators and their assistants, then to the entire Catholic community of Ireland: the lay faithful, including the various victims of abuse, the Bishops, the clergy and the Religious communities who have responded so well to this concrete sign of the solicitude of the Successor of Peter for the future of the Church in Ireland.

Consequently, the Apostolic Visitation should now be considered completed. The Holy See entrusts its conclusions to the responsibility of the Bishops, clergy, Religious and lay faithful of Ireland, in the hope that they will bear fruit worthy of that process of healing, reparation and renewal which Pope Benedict XVI so eagerly desires for the beloved Church in Ireland.

07. JUN, 2011

PRESS RELEASE

6 June 2011

First phase of Apostolic Visitation to Ireland ends
Communiqué at the Conclusion of the First Phase of the Apostolic Visitation in Ireland

The following statement was published by Vatican Radio on 6 June 2011

In accordance with the time-scale indicated in the Communiqué of 12 November 2010, the first phase of the Apostolic Visitation announced by the Holy Father in his Pastoral Letter to the Catholics of Ireland (19 March 2010), in order to “assist the local Church on her path of renewal” (par. 14), has now been concluded.
As indicated in the above-mentioned Communiqué, the Visitators set out to examine:

“whether the mutual relationship of the various components of the local Church, seminaries and religious communities is now in place, in order to sustain them on the path of profound spiritual renewal already being pursued by the Church in Ireland”;
“the effectiveness of the present processes used in responding to cases of abuse”;
“the current forms of assistance provided to the victims”.

The Visitation to the four metropolitan archdioceses, the seminaries and the religious institutes has been very useful, thanks to the cooperation of everyone who took part in this initiative. The Holy Father’s sincere thanks goes to them, especially to the four Metropolitan Archbishops.

The Visitators’ Reports have been handed in to the competent Dicasteries of the Holy See. Individually, and in the context of interdicasterial meetings specially convened for the purpose and conducted in a constructive atmosphere, the Dicasteries in question have carried out an initial evaluation, from which it emerges that:

As far as the Irish dioceses and seminaries are concerned, the Congregation for Bishops and the Congregation for Catholic Education do not envisage further Apostolic Visitations. Having encountered various organizations and individuals, including the Suffragan Bishops, the Visitators have been able to arrive at a sufficiently complete picture of the situation of the Irish Church with respect to the areas under investigation.

The Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life has analyzed the responses to the questionnaires that were sent to all Institutes with religious houses in Ireland. In accordance with the method previously adopted, visits in loco to some religious communities will follow.

In the coming months, the competent Dicasteries will give indications to the Bishops for the spiritual renewal of the dioceses and seminaries, and the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life will do likewise for the religious Institutes.

By early 2012, the Holy See will publish an overall synthesis indicating the results and the future prospects highlighted by the Visitation, not least with a view to the nationwide Mission announced in the above-mentioned Letter of the Holy Father.

By Noel Baker

Monday, February 20, 2012

The new Papal Nuncio began his mission to Ireland by echoing the words of Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin in pledging to help heal a “wounded” Church.
At the liturgical reception for Archbishop Charles J Brown, the new Apostolic Nuncio said Pope Benedict had been “scandalised and dismayed” over the abuse perpetrated by Catholic priests.

The comments from both men, made at Dublin’s Pro-Cathedral, come as the row over the closure of Ireland’s Embassy in the Vatican rumbled on.

In welcoming Archbishop Brown to Dublin, Archbishop Martin said pointedly: “The diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Ireland have been fruitful in fostering the interests of Ireland, of the Holy See and of our common interests in the good of the human family.”

Afterwards Dr Martin said he was confident the Irish embassy to the Vatican would reopen “in some other way” — only for the Department of Foreign Affairs to reiterate that its decision to close the Vatican embassy would not be reviewed.

Archbishop Brown’s predecessor, Giuseppe Leanza, became embroiled in friction between the Government and Rome over the fall-out from the clerical child sex abuse scandals, but yesterday his American successor said the Vatican was committed to dealing with abuse and abusers.

“Pope Benedict was scandalised and dismayed as he learned about the tragedy of abuse perpetrated by some members of the clergy and of religious congregations,” he said. “He felt deeply the wounds of those who had been harmed and who so often had not been listened to.

“From the beginning, Pope Benedict was resolute and determined to put into place changes which would give the Church the ability to deal more effectively with those who abuse trust, as well as to provide the necessary assistance to those who had been victimised. Pope Benedict has been relentless and consistent on this front, and I assure you that he will continue to be.”

He also said the Church could be a place of healing.

“The Church herself is wounded by the sins of her members,” he told the congregation. “And just as sin produces a kind of spiritual paralysis in the individual, a radical lack of the spiritual energy which is grace, so too there can be a kind of spiritual paralysis in sections of the Church, where that energy seems to have disappeared, enthusiasm is dissipated, liturgical life grows cold.”

Perhaps referring to the context of the row between Dublin and Rome last year over the alleged lack of co-operation in child abuse probes, Archbishop Brown said: “Sin should not be understood primarily as a breaking of a rule or as violating the regulations. Sin is not, in the first instance, something legal.”

He said sin was “a spiritual disease which afflicts us, which can paralyse us” but which could be healed through the Church, particularly through the Holy Eucharist.

“The Holy See and Ireland have deep-rooted links, which go back long into our history,” he said

“International relations and diplomacy are concerned not just with the political and economic challenges of the day, no matter how vital, but with the fundamental values and aspirations of people which must then shape relations between peoples and States and in this context the Holy See plays a vital role.”

The Irish Times – Wednesday, February 8, 2012

PADDY AGNEW in Rome

THE HOLY See’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has had to deal with more than 4,000 cases of sexual abuse of minors in the past decade, according to its prefect, US Cardinal William Levada.

He was speaking at a symposium in Rome, “Towards Healing and Renewal”, which opened yesterday and was addressed by Irish clerical abuse survivor Marie Collins.

Cardinal Levada told the symposium, being held over three days in the Pontifical Gregorian University, that the number of cases of sexual abuse of minors reported to the CDF in the past decade had revealed, on the one hand, the inadequacy of “an exclusively canonical response to this tragedy and, on the other, the necessity of a truly multifaceted response …”

Bishops from more than 100 countries as well as 32 heads of religious orders have gathered for the event, which is intended to help churchmen understand the need for and then develop that “truly multifaceted response”.

In Rome, where until recently it was not uncommon to hear senior Vatican figures dismiss the clerical sex abuse crisis as “an Anglo-Saxon problem”, this may well be a ground-breaking event.

Cardinal Levada indicated something of the spirit of the week when addressing the victims of clerical sex abuse, saying: “For many if not most victims a first need is to be heard, to know that the church listens to their story of abuse, that the church understands the gravity of what they have suffered, that she wants to accompany them on the often long path of healing …”.

While acknowledging the complexity of the issue, Cardinal Levada did however defend the church’s response, pointing out that John Paul II’s 2001 Motu Proprio “ Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela ” instigated a “co-ordinated response” by instructing all abuse cases be reported to the CDF.

Cardinal Levada praised Pope Benedict not only for his role as prefect of the CDF in 2001 in framing that Motu Proprio but also for supporting the approval of “Essential Norms” on child protection in the US church, adding: “But the Pope has had to suffer attacks by the media over these past years in various parts of the world, when he should rather have received the gratitude of us all, in the church and outside it …”

In an address entitled, “Listening, Understanding and Acting To Heal and Empower Victims”, Ms Collins outlined the pain and trauma of having been abused by a priest as a 13-year-old but also of having been blamed when she finally found the courage to tell her story, more than 30 years later.

“I was treated as someone with an agenda against the church, the police investigation was obstructed and the laity misled. I was distraught,” she said.

The best of her life began 15 years ago, she said, when her abuser was finally brought to justice. Since then, she has worked with the church to help improve itss child protection policies while working for justice for survivors.

The Irish Times – Saturday, February 4, 2012

JOANNE HUNT

THE MINISTER for Education is to write to the 18 religious congregations, which ran residential institutions where children were abused, asking them to contribute more towards the €1.2 billion bill for compensating victims.

The letter from Ruairí Quinn follows questions put to Taoiseach Enda Kenny in the Dáil yesterday about the status of the payment of compensation by the congregations.

In 2009, the Ryan commission published its finding that children put into State care in religious-run residential institutions had suffered systemic abuse. Under the 2002 indemnity agreement, the congregations agreed to provide a contribution of €128 million to those abused, comprising cash, property and counselling services.

The final cost of the response to residential institutional child abuse, however, has since been estimated to be in the region of €1.36 billion. The Government said last year that it believed this should be shared on a 50-50 basis, between the taxpayer and those responsible for managing the institutions where the abuse took place.

Last July, Mr Quinn expressed his disappointment at the level of contributions offered by religious congregations to meet costs of the compensation, saying that offers from the religious congregations to date had fallen far short of the amount needed.

The department said yesterday that the letter had already been in train, before the questions received by the Taoiseach, and that the correspondence was “the official expression” of what Mr Quinn had asked of the congregations last summer.

A spokeswoman confirmed that the letter would be sent in the next fortnight.

Congregations urged over compensation bill

The religious congregations that ran residential institutions where children were abused are to be asked to contribute more towards the €1.2bn bill for compensating victims.

The 18 religious congregations that ran residential institutions where children were abused are to be asked to contribute more towards the €1.2bn bill for compensating victims.

Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn is to write to the congregations within a fortnight.
He made his remarks after Taoiseach Enda Kenny told religious congregations in Dublin there is a responsibility on everybody concerned to conclude a deal on the matter.

Mr Kenny is also calling on these religious congregations to pay more towards the abuse compensation bill.

(From the RTE Website 3rd February 2012)

Shatter considers Bethany Home investigation

Minister for Justice & Equality Alan Shatter has said he is considering very carefully demands for an investigation of the former Protestant-run Bethany Home.

Former residents have accused the Government of discriminating against them on religious grounds by excluding them from the remit of its investigation of the Catholic-run Magdalene Laundries.
Mr Shatter gave his assurance to William Irwin, a Co Armagh-based member of the Northern Assembly.
However, he told him there are no plans at present to expand the brief of the Government-appointed McAleese Committee to include the Bethany mother-and-baby home where, despite State inspections, a number of unreported deaths occurred before and during WWII.

The McAleese Committee is investigating the State’s involvement in the Magdalene Laundries.
Mr Irwin had written to Mr Shatter echoing calls by Minister Arlene Foster from the Northern Executive for the former Dublin-based home to be included in the committee’s remit.
The two dozen or so former residents are confident such a move would lead to the State compensating them for neglect.

Mr Shatter assured Mr Irwin that he is carefully considering the appropriateness and practicality of addressing the issues surrounding the home in a satisfactory manner.
The Minister has already rejected suggestions that the State’s current position is motivated by religious discrimination.

Sally Mulready’s life began in a children’s institution in 1950s Ireland, followed by emigration and involvement in some of the biggest campaigns of the past two decades. Now she’s on the Council of State, writes MARK HENNESSY , London Editor

ENTERING THE WARMTH of Sally Mulready’s home in Hackney, in northeast London, on a bitterly cold day, you are greeted by echoes of Ireland: the sound of Pat Kenny’s radio show, and The Irish Times and Irish Independent on the dining-room table. Bridie the cat comes to investigate.

On the day we meet, Mulready is preparing to leave for Dublin, for the first meeting of President Michael D Higgins’s Council of State, at Áras an Uachtaráin – followed, sadly, by the funeral of Mary Raftery, the journalist who helped reveal the scandal of Ireland’s children’s institutions.

Raftery’s death is especially poignant, as the broadcast of her documentary series States of Fear , in 1999, changed Mulready’s life, propelling her on a decade-long campaign to help abuse victims who had fled Ireland for Britain, and many of whom had never found peace.

Mulready herself knows something about the institutions. Born in 1950, she spent her first four years in the mother-and-babies home on Navan Road in Dublin with her mother, Sheila, before the two were separated, in accordance with the rules of the time, when Mulready was four.

Her mother went to England. Mulready went to an orphanage elsewhere in Dublin – “a benign, beautiful place on the Kilmacud Road in Stillorgan” – though at the age of nine her life changed once more with her transfer to St Mary’s Industrial School, in Sandymount.

“That was a completely different kind of institution, a big melting pot of children, from orphans to children sent there by the courts, children who were suddenly bereaved. It was a very, very wild place, [but] it wasn’t vicious.”

Fifty years on, she still keeps in occasional touch with one of the nuns. “I am 60. How old was she when she was looking after me? We had no sense of them being anything other than nuns. We never saw them as human beings, with feelings.”

Even while at St Mary’s, Mulready knew that boys in other institutions were being physically abused. It was not until Raftery’s investigation was broadcast that she understood about sexual abuse, “although it came as no surprise to me”.

The suffering was visible at Christmas, when the children held in the institutions were brought together for charity evenings at the Savoy – hosted, separately, by Cadbury and CIÉ – where they were encouraged “to stuff our faces with chocolate” and sing Christmas songs.

“I saw even then the absolute hardship and suffering of young boys. They had it in their faces. They were very subdued; they never smiled,” she says, adding that the St Mary’s children were “more assertive; we weren’t afraid”.

Decades later, having watched States of Fear , Mulready, by then secretary of the Federation of Irish Societies, knew that something had to be done in Britain, because there “was very little reference to the possibility that there were survivors outside of Ireland”.

Before States of Fear , two small groups of men had begun to gather separately in Coventry and Sheffield to talk among themselves about their experiences. But the programme opened the floodgates.

Mulready travelled Britain, briefing survivors on the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, which was set up in Ireland in 2000, and the later Residential Institutions Redress Board, which dealt with financial compensation. “A meeting that started at one o’clock would still be going on at six. People would just stand up and preface what they had to say by saying, ‘I’m telling this for the first time: I have never told a soul this.’ We heard testimonial after testimonial after testimonial.”

Unlike some former inmates of the industrial schools in Britain, Mulready accepts that the redress board “did its best with the evidence it had”. Most of those who went before it – she did not go before it – had their cases settled without having to give evidence. “Had we all been marched into court it would have taken us all eight to nine years to have our cases heard. Very few of us would have been able to produce any witnesses to the assaults. The people we were accusing were dead,” she says.

She is bitterly critical of the religious orders, however. “They have delivered less than a quarter of the promised funding, and Ruairí Quinn is having one hell of a battle to try to get more resources out of them.”

Today, Mulready, a British Labour Party councillor, is deeply involved in the fight for recognition by some of the 30,000 women who were held in the church-run Magdalen laundries, who were denied the right to seek compensation from the redress board.

Mulready was an experienced campaigner by the time States of Fear emerged, having supported the miners’ strike in Britain in 1984, the Birmingham Six release campaign, and efforts to get the Irish government to fund organisations working with vulnerable Irish emigrants.

In the early 1990s, the decayed bodies of a succession of elderly Irishmen were found dead in their flats in Camden – months and years after their lonely, ignored deaths – prompting demands for action.

In 1994, the Irish Elderly Advice Network was formed, with Mulready at its head and a budget of just £9,000 (€10,800). To date it has helped 4,000 vulnerable Irish people, aiding them, among other ways by securing millions in unclaimed welfare and pensions benefits.

Before the network was set up, she wrote to the Department of Foreign Affairs, in Dublin, seeking funds. She got a letter back saying the group was not a priority at the time. “I was absolutely astonished, but it actually put a bit of fight in me. “I said, ‘I’m not accepting this.’ This is the community that sent money back home in remittances, that had kept Irish families off their knees – brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers – through the money that they sent home every week in cash in envelopes.” Two years later, after campaigning by Mulready, the Federation of Irish Societies under Seamus McGarry, and the Council of Irish Counties, among others, funding arrived from Dublin and it has kept coming.

THE 1990s MARKED a sea change in the way Ireland looked on its emigrants, spurred on by documentaries that highlighted the squalidness that some endured.

Equally, the Irish Embassy started to change. “I have been here for 40 years, and it wasn’t until Ted Barrington came [as ambassador, in 1995] that I ever got an invitation to the Embassy. The Irish Embassy was some sort of remote place that well-to-do people in the community went to. Those with influence congregated around the Irish Embassy and the Irish Club in Eaton Square, and the rest of us did our socialising in the Irish Centre in Camden and in the pubs around Camden, Brent, Ealing, all those places.”

Like other Irish emigrants of the 1960s, Mulready remembers having to be most wary of one’s own people. “It was absolutely dreadful; I remember that myself. I came here in 1966 looking for accommodation, and like lots of people we were living in rooms. An awful lot of the landlords were Irish, and they were just downright exploitative, unpleasant, bossy,” she says, adding that her grandmother always used to say, “Strangers are better to you than your own.”

Mulready did benefit from the kindness of strangers, when she worked first in a laundry and in the London Electricity Board. “I was taken care of, looked after, my interests protected . . . They were all Londoners, old-fashioned, from Hackney.”

With just a primary education from St Mary’s, Mulready went back to school for a day a week, earning an A-Level and, later, “the whole Educating Rita bit”, achieving a degree in history.

“For the first five years of my life here I didn’t mix that much with Irish people. I went to the odd dance in the Gresham ballroom, on Holloway Road. But I found the Irish community difficult,” she says, referring to sexism and cliquishness.

Today, she says, “the Irish community is better, stronger, more caring than it ever was, and much more connected . . . but there are still hard-core sections of the Irish community, not just single Irishmen, who need help.”

Most new emigrants are better educated and more confident than their predecessors, “but not all of them are educated and competent. There are going to be a lot of really vulnerable people, feeling really rejected and disappointed, who are not leaving of their free will.”

The place on the Council of State offers a platform, but Mulready is not yet sure quite what she can do with it. “It means an awful lot. It is a terrific honour for me and my family. I have to pinch myself constantly and ask, ‘Is it really me?’ I don’t come from the normal classes on whom an honour of this sort is usually bestowed. It means an awful lot to the Irish community, too.”

The proposed Constitutional Convention offers the Irish in Britain the chance to be heard, she says, particularly on the right to vote in some elections, although she says she has not made up her mind on the issue. “I think we have to have a dialogue about what we mean about votes for the Irish. I have been here 40 years; I pay my taxes in this country; I am fully settled,” she says, adding, “My family is here; my whole life is here.

“I never wanted to leave Ireland, but, ironically, I regard it as the best thing I ever did. I wouldn’t have had any of those doors open for me. I believe that if I went back tomorrow they probably still wouldn’t be open to me.”

But now she must rush for her flight. The President is waiting.

Curriculum Vitae

Name Sally Mulready

Age 60

Born Dublin

Why is she in the news? President Michael D Higgins has appointed her to the Council of State

What does she do? She’s a British Labour Party councillor and head of the Irish Elderly Advice Network, which has helped 4,000 vulnerable Irish in Britain. She has also campaigned on behalf of abuse victims, the Birmingham Six and, more recently, those who were held in the Magdalen laundries, who have so far been denied compensation by the State

Jan. 12, 2012
By Thomas P. Doyle

APPRECIATION

Mary Raftery, an Irish journalist whose documentary series States of Fear exposed abuse in Irish Catholic schools, died in Dublin on Monday. She was 54.

Mary was a journalist by profession, but by vocation, she was a deeply honest and compassionate woman who fearlessly challenged the Irish Catholic Church, and in doing so, made the present and the future a safer place for children.

Mary may not be as well-known in the United States as she is in her native Ireland, yet her life has made a profound difference for victims of clergy abuse everywhere. She did more than any one person to force the systemic vicious abuse in the Irish industrial schools into the open. She continued with her passion to help victims with her documentary Cardinal Secrets, an expose of the cover-up of sexual abuse in the archdiocese of Dublin.

In 1999, Mary produced States of Fear. The ground-breaking documentary series revealed the almost-unbelievable and certainly horrifying degree of physical and sexual abuse in Irish industrial schools run by religious orders. The revelations chilled Ireland to the bone and resulted in what came to be known as the Ryan Commission to investigate the abuse.

When States of Fear aired in 1999, it sent shock waves through Ireland. But most importantly, it vindicated the thousands of victims whose youth had been destroyed in the living nightmares scattered throughout the country.

Mary’s other major project involving the church was a documentary about sexual abuse perpetrated by priests in the Dublin archdiocese.

Cardinal Secrets aired on a Thursday night in October 2002. On Friday morning, the front pages of the major Dublin newspapers zeroed in on the culture of dishonesty and cover-up orchestrated by the hierarchy.

The hard-hitting documentary portrayed the sexual violation in graphic and forceful terms. The most infuriating moment in the film comes when a reporter asks Cardinal Desmond Connell, then archbishop of Dublin, how often he met with victims. He replied, “I’m a very busy man.”

I first met Mary in 2002, when she was working on Cardinal Secrets. She wanted to interview me for the film, so I flew from Germany, where I was living at the time, to Dublin.

I met Mary and her co-producer, Mick Peelo, and we went to dinner at a small Thai restaurant. I liked her from the start. She was unassuming, gentle and obviously brilliant. But what struck me more than anything was her compassion and quiet outrage at the spectacle of sexual and physical violation of the innocent by the church. Our only point of contention was when Mary wanted me to wear a Roman collar for the interview. By then, I didn’t even own one, and was loath to put on the garb again for many reasons, not the least of which was my fear that abuse survivors would see me in it and think I had betrayed them.

Mary and Mick were adamant: “If you wear that thing, even the pious Irish old ladies will believe every word that comes out of your mouth.”

She won. I located a clergy collar and carried it in a shopping bag to the RTE studio the next day. I put it on in the men’s room and sat for the interview.

Cardinal Secrets was a success, certainly not because I was in it, but because Mary and Mick were thorough, fearless and direct. The result: the investigation by the Murphy Commission, whose report was issued in November 2009.

Mary and I were instant friends. We stayed in contact and would get together whenever I was in Dublin. She never changed — she was always gentle and sensitive, but her courage and willingness to take personal risks to expose injustice never wavered.

Mary Raftery’s life was short when considered in terms of years. Yet she did more in those years for Ireland, for children, for abuse survivors and for humanity than most could ever dream of accomplishing. The Irish culture was in desperate need of liberation from the chains of clericalism. Mary Raftery, more than anyone else, wielded the ax that shattered those stifling and destructive bonds.

[Tom Doyle is a priest, canon lawyer, addictions therapist and longtime supporter of justice and compassion for clergy sex abuse victims. He is a co-author of the first report ever issued to the U.S. bishops on clergy sex abuse, in 1986.]