The Irish Times – Monday, March 8, 2010
ANALYSIS: There is no room for the ‘still don’t get it’ mindset if the Catholic Church here is to have a future, writes PATSY McGARRY

IRELAND’S CATHOLIC bishops begin their three-day spring meeting in Maynooth today. They have lots to talk about. All those holes, and still digging.

They might consider this. “The question you have to ask yourselves is: did you know what the institution was doing and the full consequences of what it was doing? Because, if you did, you were complicit with the recklessness. Or if the answer is you didn’t know, then you cannot have been discharging your responsibility . . . properly.”

Those questions were posed by Niall Fitzgerald, former chairman and chief executive of the multinational Unilever, and former chairman of the global media agency Reuters, as recalled in an Irish Times interview on Saturday. He posed them to friends of his in the Irish business world last summer. It provoked “a very ferocious conversation” and “real anger”.

Such questions apply as much to Ireland’s Catholic bishops, not least the “saw no evil, heard no evil” Bishop of Galway, Martin Drennan.

Mr Fitzgerald also made this observation about Irish business figures. “I have been genuinely amazed . . . that they just haven’t got it. They don’t realise the degree of rage and anger that’s around, and that they have to make significant personal sacrifices to rebuild society’s trust in them and their institutions.” So too with our Catholic bishops.

The very latest example of this “still don’t get it” syndrome among the bishops was that speech by Bishop of Ferns Dennis Brennan last Monday night. When it came to “the funding of claims associated with child abuse as perpetrated by some members of the clergy”, it would “be necessary to invite the parishes to become part of the process financially”, he said.

Such “funding sought is not about sharing the blame, it is about asking for help to fulfil a God-given responsibility. That I did not cause the problem is not the response of the Christian . . .” he said.

Later, he ruled out asking the Vatican for financial help to compensate abuse victims. “I do not want to burden others,” he said. “This is our responsibility, and we would like to discharge our responsibilities ourselves,” he said.

Better then to burden the people of Ferns.

Colm O’Gorman, who knows a thing or two about what went on in Ferns diocese, pointed out that the Catholic Church is one of the wealthiest institutions on the planet. He suggested that victims of clerical sex abuse should take cases against the church, so holding the institution itself responsible rather than the people in the pews.

He also reminded us of another very recent “still don’t get it” episode.

“Anyone that was offended by the sheer vulgarity and grandiosity of the pictures that we saw coming out of the so-called summit by Irish bishops in Rome . . . will see the amount of money that swills around in the Vatican and the global church coffers. Let [us] see them divest themselves of some of that sort of wealth,” he said.

So Bishop Brennan prefers to lay the “burden” on people in Ferns. But if this is accepted in Ferns – the mother of all Irish Catholic dioceses when it comes to the clerical child sex abuse issue – you can be sure it will be followed by other Irish Catholic dioceses.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 23, we see Jesus at his most ferocious.

Speaking about scribes and Pharisees, the religious leaders of the day, he said: “They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but will they lift a finger to move them? Not they! Everything they do is to attract attention, like wearing broader phylacteries and longer tassels, like wanting to take the place of honour at banquets and the front seats in the synagogues, being greeted obsequiously in the market squares and having people call them Rabbi . . . Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut up the kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces, neither going in yourselves nor allowing others to go in who want to.”

Rough, tough, but . . . that was Jesus!

It was the gospel reading at Mass on Sunday, October 30th, 2005, the first Sunday following publication of the Ferns report. That day, a Mass at Rowe Street church in Wexford town was celebrated by Bishop Eamonn Walsh, then administrator of the diocese. In his homily, he spoke of how the gospel reading was “so relevant for today”. Indeed.

Yet still, some Irish bishops continued in the old ways. Yesterday on the BBC Northern Ireland Sunday Sequence programme, Ian Elliott, chief executive of the Catholic Church’s own watchdog, the National Board for Safeguarding Children, spoke of “hostility” he had experienced from bishops, and others “who create difficulties” as he attempted to implement uniform child protection guidelines in the church.

He spoke of “incomplete” guidelines and a “deficit in terms of policy” where child protection guidelines are concerned in the church.

Perhaps those tardy church figures share the view of Mgr Alex Stenson, chancellor to three archbishops of Dublin (Ryan, McNamara, Connell) from 1981-1997, and who also features in the Murphy report.

In an interview last January with the Irish Catholic newspaper, he said: “What abusers did was wrong. It was dreadful, but was it always sinful? It was always wrong. Sinful? I am not so sure at times.

“If someone is a paedophile, it can have a bearing on their culpability. In church law, culpability may be reduced depending on the severity of the pathology.”

Pope Benedict would seem to differ. Following his meeting with the Irish bishops last month, the pope said: “The sexual abuse of children and young people is not only a heinous crime, but also a grave sin which offends God and wounds the dignity of the human person created in his image.”

Should someone tell Mgr Stenson? Does it matter?

In that same interview, Mgr Stenson also parted company with the Murphy Commission and current Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin on the commission’s finding that there was a culture of secrecy in the archdiocese. There was no such thing, Mgr Stenson said. What there was, “was a Christian culture of confidentiality and respect for people’s reputations”.

The bishops and their sycophantic acolytes, lay and clerical, had better “get it” – or the Catholic Church in Ireland has a destiny which is as predictable as gravity.

 

4 Responses to “Long past time for bishops to ‘get it’ if the faithful are to continue travelling with them”

  1. Angry says:

    The long awaited “Lenten” pastoral letter from Ratzo has just been lengthened. It`s all mitres to the deck as Ratzo now comes to the aid of his brother. Jasus, how bad can it get, Germany, The Netherlands, and Bavaria now figure high on Ratzo`s list of priorities.

    One thing is for sure, the CATHOLIC CLERICAL SEXUAL TERRORISM now being exposed throughout Europe is no longer, in the Vatican’s eyes “”MERELY A NORTH AMERICAN PROBLEM”” as spouted by some cross dresser in Rome a few years ago.

    What price !INFALLIBILITY!.??. We are now presented with a DOGMATIC FALLACY which makes Disneyland look and appear believable. At last, mankind can now set out to archive exploration of the fundamental notion and belief held by these cross dressers that aul Ratzo can do no wrong when the “WORD OF GOD” is up for debate. With his church crashing down around him, Ratzo can no longer hark to the potential power of any idea`s which live in the various systems which have sustained these Neanderthals for over two thousand years. We now have the SUPREME CRAFTSMAN, rocking unsteadily on his GOLDEN PEDESTAL, on whom NO LONGER rests or depends any orderliness or direction coming from his pontifical “INFALLIBILITY”, now being rapidly eroded by exposure of further evidence of structured and active paedophile rings infecting every level and strata of “Catholic Society”.

    Surely the game is NOW UP, and I suppose the most we could ask for would be “questions” at the United Nations in relation to the Vaticans ongoing policy of SUPPRESSING THESE CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY. Failing that , perhaps he may open his gilded coffers to the TENS OF THOUSANDS OF BRUTALLY ABUSED CHILDREN WHOM HE AND HIS CHURCH DENIED THE PROTECTION OF GOD TO. Fair dinkum if you do Ratzo.

    Poor aul Ratzo is now being exposed to the full NEWTONIAN CONCEPT OF GRAVITY, and the gravitas of CLERICAL SEXUAL TERRORISM, its weight will surely pin him down. And WORSE, BERTONE waiting in the wings, scythe waiting and ready.

  2. “The very latest example of this “still don’t get it” syndrome among the bishops was that speech by Bishop of Ferns Dennis Brennan last Monday night.”

    Paddy,
    yes they get it!
    Their logorrhea religious speeches are the expression of guilt.

    Their general agenda is:
    – snow blind society,
    – keep the financial damage low,
    – see victims as damaged goods.
    The empire needs to be saved and people in it oppressed.

    It is up to the victims to see behind this cover up and defend their rights.
    Sieglinde

  3. Andrew says:

    Mgr Alex Stenson, chancellor to three archbishops of Dublin (Ryan, McNamara, Connell) from 1981-1997, and who also features in the Murphy report. In an interview last January with the Irish Catholic newspaper, he said:

    “What abusers did was wrong. It was dreadful, but was it always sinful? It was always wrong. Sinful? I am not so sure at times. If someone is a paedophile, it can have a bearing on their culpability. In church law, culpability may be reduced depending on the severity of the pathology.”

    Mgr Stenson also parted company with the Murphy Commission and current Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin on the commission’s finding that there was a culture of secrecy in the archdiocese.

    “There was no such thing. What there was, was a Christian culture of confidentiality and respect for people’s reputations”.

    – – – – – – – –

    About Stenson:

    Monsignor Alex Stenson, whose name has featured in several of the child abuse cases highlighted in recent years due to his role in investigating complaints against priests. A highly regarded canon lawyer, Msgr Stenson is now a parish priest in Killester, a north Dublin suburb. For several years he was chancellor of the Dublin archdiocese working with both Dr Kevin McNamara and Cardinal Connell who succeeded him in 1988. As chancellor, Msgr Stenson was the person to whom many parents were referred when they complained about suspect priests.

    Msgr Stenson was the senior cleric who accused a nine-year-old Mervyn Rundle of lying when he claimed to have been abused by a parish priest. This was despite the fact that the diocese had already received numerous complaints against the priest. The priest was instead sent back to his parish. It was many years later before he was convicted and Mr Rundle awarded €300,000 in an out-of-court settlement. Those who know Msgr Stenson say that he is a meticulous record taker. It is believed that he took detailed notes of his interviews with priests under suspicion and with their accusers, including parents, children and others. It is understood that these records accounted for many of the 65,000 diocesan documents that Archbishop Martin released to the commission of inquiry last year. Cardinal Connell contested the release of some of the documents, in a High Court action which he later withdrew.

    Behind the Catholic hierarchy’s public displays of sorrow and hand-wringing for the victims of clerical sex abuse is a competing loyalty to canon law.

    The Dublin archdiocese even refused to assist gardai in cases where sex abuse had been admitted to them in private by priests because — in its view — canon law took precedence over civil law. This ecclesiastical arrogance was displayed to greatest effect in the case of Marie Collins. As a 13-year-old in hospital in Dublin, the chaplain stood at her bedside and took inappropriate photographs of her. Years later in 1995, when she learnt that the cleric was still a working priest, she reported him to the Dublin archdiocese. Although the priest had admitted his guilt, Cardinal Connell indicated he could not co-operate with a garda inquiry. Msgr Stenson later threatened to sue Marie Collins when he discovered she had given his correspondence to her admitting the priest’s guilt to gardai.

    When Marie Collins went public with her claims in 2002, Michael McDowell, then justice minister, dismissed the Catholic Church’s canon law as having the same status as golf club rules.

  4. Angry says:

    THE bishops MEET AGAIN . Maynooth, the scene of many a bloody battle of late opens its doors again, this time with the three bishops whose “resignations” are on Ratzo`s plate. WHAT RESIGNATIONS, say the bishops.?

    Under discussion in the next three days will be the usual call to arms, how in the bejasus can we get back to “business” and shut these gurriers up. The WOLF PACK, having successfully sunk Diarmuid Martin, to their “god given responsblity”, will now turn to the culminating points of their latest strategy to embody and publicly display the great advances they have made recently in the expression of moral and intellectual intuitions to mark the growth of a “”new found road to healing””, not forgetting reconcilation and forgiveness.!

    Yes, say the bishops, its time we passed on our reflections of recent years, lets show the flock we have “learned” something, let us show the “faithful” the driving power of our religious faith, let us bring god back to the godless and show a suffciency of intellectual insight to give an articulate expression of singular beauty to be found in “rediscovering” god. No more can we be seen to be fragmentary, inconsistent, and uncertain. We MUST be positive, get back to basics, show all that is best in human nature and values, the Mother, the child, the lowly man, the homeless and self forgetful, we MUST go forward with the message of peace, love and sympathy, recognise the suffering , the agony, use tender words to stem the ebbing of faith, we MUST retreat from this final despair we suffer and gain a victory of supreme worth akin to “”gods given responsblity” which will enable our cash flow to keep us in the luxury we are accustomed to while “dealing” with these poor disadvantaged and abused children. Unfortunately, that was a bad move by Denis last week in the call to subect his parishoners to a “guilt trip” in order for them to cough up a bit more dosh. The natives are angry.

    However, there is and was an upside to Denis`s call for more dosh from his adoring subects, at least it provides a diversion from the more mundane aspects of these reports, and serves us well in that people are now concentrating on the “diminishing” services we now supply, we must focus on this shortfall as our main “priority”. The emphasis has to be on getting more dosh. We are sure the public have now lost the stomach to be reminded constantly of these horrendous atrocities, the edge has now gone on the ten little girls sexually abused at the altar in Ferns while receiving “instructions” for their confirmation, I mean , who now wants to hear of a priest licking the ears of little girls, guiding their hands towards his open trousers, kissing their necks, and look at the incident in relation to the little girl sexually abused by a priest using his crucifix other that the purpose for which it was intended, we can now view this as a “momentary” lapse by our cleric, something we must forget about. We can take solace in the fact that we are NOT seen as bad as the christian brothers, these people were prone to inflicting torture on children, torture in a manner contray to the Geneva Convention which protected Prisoners Of War against such atrocities, and we can only thank god that not too much was made of the fact that in two of these Institutions children were forced to eat excrement, one unfortunate child in Artane Industrial School who was forced to kneel down and lick the excrement from a christian brothers shoe. The other incident having occured in the notorious Letterfrack Industrial School where again, an unfortunate child was forced to eat excrement, this time at seven am in the morning, without being flippant on the matter, it would be safe to say, my dear bishops, that these christian brothers had a warped view of what breakfast should consist of for these unfortunate children. Of course , reason and excuse can be advanced for the naked whipping many of these children suffered, more so in Letterfrack where the shower room was the chosen place for such mild punishment, after all, these children were unruly and as Florence Horsman Hogan revealed to the world some time ago, these children were in the habit of depleting the farms stock of dairy herd BY IMPALING THESE UNFORTUNATE BEASTS ON RAILINGS, THE ENSUING EVISCERATION AS DESCRIBED BY FLORENCE HORSMAN HOGAN WAS BRUTAL IN THE EXTREME. However, my dear bishops, as time has revealed the general character of this supposedly observed “slaughter” explains at once “memory and personal identity”, two attributes lacking in Florence`s make-up. She omits to inform us of how the COW was lifted, CRANE or TRESTLE, perhaps in her case, the Gardai should do some “lifting”. What WE must avoid, my dear bishops, is what has occured since publication of the Ryan Report, our dear christian brothers hardly get a mention these days, its as if they have vanished from the planet, or legged it to another part of the planet to bring their “missionary zeal and educational benefits” to unwary third worlders.

    Our battle lines must be drawn to strengthen our position, dear bishops, we must NOT fade like the christian brothers, we have to underline the notion currently gaining ground that the doctrines of true religion is seen as fact within our “”diocesan families”, and not founded upon vague phrase`s whose sole merit is based on comforting familiarity and as Denis says, “”god given responsblity”” as we once more whip them into the pews. We MUST transmit our energies to the future, our continuity has to be dominant, we must continue to bind the past to the present, we must divest our “faithful” of the problematic quandry of trivia, where they are beset with details of atrocities irrevelant to the solution we seek. We can, my dear bishops do this from the pulpits, we have to instruct our culprits in the pulpits in the art of delivering , not hail and brimstone, but a many dimensional seriality based on a “road to healing” as expressed by Denis, and include a little “justice” thrown in, we have to show we are not transient, but ETERNAL, and getting rid of Diarmuid is our first step to further longevity. Our present predicament, merely temporary, must not be allowed to enfeeble our long and distinguished record in how to part the public from their dosh. So, its onwards christian soldiers, but bring your spears and mitres, to once more fill our pews.