Enforcers get mixed reaction from abuse groups

SEVERAL of the Catholic Church’s top enforcers against paedophile priests have been appointed by the Pope to carry out an inquiry into the Church’s handling of the problem here.

However, one abuse survivor and campaigner has dismissed the move as “another piece of window-dressing” that would not tell the Church anything that survivors had not already told it.

The five-member apostolic visitation group, most of whom have played key roles in tackling the issue in their own countries, will begin their work in the autumn in the archdioceses of Dublin, Armagh, Tuam and Cashel and Emly. Simultaneous inquiries will take place in the seminaries and in the religious congregations and missionary orders, followed by the dioceses.