Martin does not agree with calls for ‘fast-track’ closure on abuse

ARCHBISHOP Diarmuid Martin said he could not agree with some Catholics who wanted the Church to proclaim closure on past clerical child abuse and move on.

“There is no way we should impose fast-track healing on those whose vulnerability was abused.

“Shameful abuse took place within Church of Christ. The response was totally inadequate,” the Dublin archbishop said yesterday.

Archbishop Martin was speaking at the Chrism Mass in the Pro-cathedral during which oils used by the Church at baptism, confirmation and the sacrament of the sick were blessed.

Dr Martin said he did not want to give the impression that he wanted to go on forever hammering home a message of grief about the past or that he was obsessed by the past.

But he could not agree with Catholics who had asked that all that had happened be set aside, proclaim closure and move on.

“I cannot agree. There can be no overlooking the past. There is no short-cut in addressing the past.

“The credibility of the Church in this diocese of Dublin will only be regained when we honestly recognise the failures of the past, whatever our share of responsibility for them.

“There can be no rewriting history. There is no way we should impose fast-track healing on those whose vulnerability was abused.”

While the past had to be addressed, they could not become imprisoned in it.

“We do not seek to impose a message of a way of life on other. We must, however, witness to what the message of Jesus means to us and what it can bring to society and our world.

“In that sense we must move forward, but we can only do so bearing within us the wounds of what has happened.”

And, he said, recognising their wounded state might turn out to be their strength if they upheld the Jesus who renounced all arrogance of power.

During Chrism Mass in the Cathedral of the Assumption in Carlow on Wednesday, Bishop Jim Moriarty, said saying sorry was not enough.

The only way that they would truly show their sorrow and try to bring peace into the lives of those deeply hurt was they way they maintained the highest child protection standards in their parishes.

Last December, Bishop Moriarty tendered his recognition to Pope Benedict for failing to challenge the prevailing culture in the archdiocese of Dublin when he was an auxiliary bishop.

Bishop Moriarty said the Church could not become indifferent around the important role of safeguarding children and presume that once there was a policy in place everything was satisfactory.

The bishop said the present crisis also dared Catholics to be authentic and faithful to the radical call of the gospel.

“We have the opportunity now to build a renewed and more humble Church.”

lGood Friday will see parishioners from all over Dublin joining members of the Order of the Knights of St Columbanus in the Way of the Cross that starts at 4.15pm at the rear of the Church of St Terese on Clarendon Street before proceeding up Grafton Street to the St Stephen’s Green area.