Readers' blog: Holier-than- thou? Take a look in the mirror
The recent visit by Pope Francis has given us all time for some necessary reflection.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar summed up the situation accurately, bravely, and succinctly and I paraphrase:
“It is a history of sorrow and shame. In place of Christian charity, forgiveness and compassion, too often there was judgment, severity and cruelty, in particular, towards women and children and those on the margins.
Magdalene Laundries, Mother and Baby Homes, industrial schools, illegal adoptions and clerical child abuse are stains on our State, society and the Catholic Church. Wounds are still open and there is much to be done to bring about justice and truth and healing.
"Holy Father, I ask that you use your office and influence to ensure this is done here in Ireland and across the world.”
Since the mid-1990s, the Catholic church and Vatican have promised to do something about this, but little or nothing has been done and most abusers have not been brought to justice.
Cover-ups have continued up to the present day in several countries.
In many cases, the Vatican authorities called the victims “liars”, “slanderers”, “troublemakers”, and mentally ill and they fought the victims in courts and tribunals.
And furthermore, in Ireland, it was the state and taxpayers who paid most of the compensation, not the Catholic Church, which has vast wealth and treasures.
This is both disgraceful and unjust.
While terrible damage has been done to the Irish people and nation, and other peoples, no effective healing systems have been put in place by governments, due to “budget constraints”, or more accurately the desperate need to bail out bankers and speculators for many billions of euros/dollars.
And the Catholic Church refuses to spend money on this.
More seriously, the ordinary Catholics, the lay people or ‘faithful’ have remained quiet, too scared to speak out against these gross injustices.
Many object to anyone speaking out publicly on the subject.
It was the same people or ‘faithful’ who enforced a climate of silence, looking the other way, and cover-ups for over a hundred years in this country.
Many of these ‘faithful’ worked for the state and facilitated these cover-ups.
This is moral cowardice, the worst type.
There is an old saying that “the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing”.
Sadly these ‘faithful’ were just as judgmental and ruthless as the paedophile priests, bishops (who covered up crimes), and Vatican authorities.
The lay people or ‘faithful’ discriminated against, gossiped about, slandered, isolated, assaulted, and oppressed the unmarried mothers, the children of unmarried mothers, the Magdalene laundry women, women in general, the orphans, the residents of industrial schools, the unemployed, the poor, the Travellers, and those who were
different in any way, including people with mental illness, those of a different religion, those of a different race or colour.
It was and continues to be a highly judgmental country which incites hatred and attack against many innocent people.
I would advise the clergy and Vatican and the lay people or ‘faithful’ to look in the mirror and sort out their own prejudices, Pharisee-like behaviour, self-righteous
attitudes and moral cowardice which poisoned this country (and other countries) and have created hatred, suspicion and division before they presume to be holy or good people or deserving of heaven.
