Church indicted on response to clerical sex abuse

HALF of Irish people believe the Catholic Church has been permanently damaged by its response to complaints of clerical child sex abuse

Also, four out of five people surveyed said the Church had failed to deal with the issue properly, according to a damning new report.

The study, called Time to Listen, which was commissioned by the Irish Bishops' Conference, said four out of 10 people did not trust the Church to safeguard children and half said the Church could not be trusted to manage clergy.