Letters to the Editor. Irish Examiner.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
WITH the publication of the Pope’s letter concerning abuse by religious orders in Ireland imminent, may I ask people who have been so supportive of survivors of abuse in the past once again to show their solidarity with us by engaging in some form of protest in their church as the pontiff’s letter is being read.
For many years, vulnerable children were raped, buggered and punished in a most brutal way. Many remain emotionally and psychologically damaged, fragile people ignored by the hierarchical ladder of the Catholic Church.
Cardinal Ratzinger, prior to his election as Pope, instructed all bishops around the world to treat reports of child sexual abuse with the “utmost secrecy”.
The perpetrators of what Pope Benedict has described as “heinous crimes” were priests, Christian brothers and nuns. The victims were children.
We have a moral obligation to send a clear message of abhorrence to religious orders that we are not prepared to remain silent onlookers while our children are subjected to almost unimaginable acts of depravity. Having spoken to many survivors of abuse, it’s clear the secrecy engaged in by the church on the instigation of the Pope has been a cause of great hurt, pain and emotional abuse. By engaging in a protest a clear message will be sent to the Pope and to other “princes” of the church that their covering up of acts of depravity against children disgust all of us who have the welfare of children as our first priority.
Abuse thrives on secrecy. That is a lesson we have learned all too painfully over many years. To survivors of abuse, of which I am one, apologies have become meaningless. They have had to be wrenched out of the various religious orders right up to Pope Benedict.
Paddy Doyle
City West
Saggart
Co Dublin
