Priests fast to atone for pain of abuse

PARISH priests in a Midlands town are this morning halfway through a 24-hour fast and penance held to acknowledge the pain caused by decades of Irish clerical child abuse their own colleagues caused.

The priests, who are based in Tullamore, Co Offaly, said that they are appalled at the sheer scale of the still-unfolding scandal and are taking part in the fast as a show of support to those who were victimised through clerical abuse over decades.

Writing on TheJournal.ie, Fr Shane Crombie — one of the organisers of the fast, which began last night — said the damage caused by the nationwide scandal should horrify any right-minded person, regardless of whether they are connected to the Church, which repeatedly covered up the abuse.

“On Sunday we are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the opening of our church,” Fr Crombie wrote.

“For the last year or so we’ve been planning what kind of celebration we were going to have. And in the context of the Cloyne report and the child abuse scandals, the priests of the parish felt that we had to make some kind of recognition of that.

“So we decided: before we celebrate the jubilee, we’re going to have a day of penance.

“The priests are going to lead a fast, and there will be prayer every hour, on the hour between 8pm on Thursday night and 8pm on Friday night.

“There will be a priest there all night if people want to come and talk, if they want to share their experiences — whatever they want to do,” Fr Crombie wrote.

The priest added that the group is “not doing this under the illusion that our action is going to fix the lives of people who have been sexually abused”.

“It’s not a magic solution. It is just an act of solidarity,” he wrote.

Online responses to the move have ranged from support for the fast to anger at what is being seen by some as public relations spin by the Church authorities.