Church must earn abuse victims' trust - Archbishop

The Church must “start from scratch” to earn back the trust of victims of clerical child abuse, it was claimed today.

Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin said that the hurt of victims could only be healed if the full extent of the abuse is uncovered.

Addressing the 7th annual Ceifin conference in Ennis, Dr Martin said: “I feel very strongly that the full extent and nature of such abuse should come to light.

“There is no way in which healing can be achieved until that happens.”

Speaking on the topic: "Imagining The Future of Organised Religion", Dr Martin said it would be “foolish” to think that the Church had not lost credibility through the recent child abuse scandals.

He added: “Many have been hurt traumatically. There have been many who have felt their trust betrayed.

“Trust and credibility cannot be bought or commanded. They have to be earned, and when lost they must be earned again right from scratch.”

Dr Martin, who succeeded Cardinal Connell as archbishop of Dublin last April, admitted that the Church had made mistakes. “But what we do is much more, much larger than our mistakes,” he added.

The archbishop said that as he visits communities in his diocese he sees a lot of hurt “but also a lot of affection and recognition for what is being done by the Church”.

He added: “I encounter parish communities which are more vibrant today than at any other time in their history. There is a great buzz around parish life today.”

He warned that the Church must engage with people much more in the future, especially young people.

“It will be a religion which listens and journeys with people, beginning where they are.”

Looking at the role of the archbishops of Dublin through history, he said that they often “took positions quite different from the standard wisdom and different from the standard positions of colleagues”.

But referring to his own tenure, Dr Martin quipped: “I hope that my brother bishops will not take this as a declaration of war.”