Papal letter branded 'weak'

The Pope’s letter on how senior Catholic clergy in Ireland mishandled cases of clerical child abuse was today branded as weak.

Sunday Mass goers heard Pope Benedict XVI’s words of apology as his pastoral letter was read at Catholic churches in Ireland north and south.

The pontiff told victims he was truly sorry for their suffering and admitted bishops had made grave errors of judgment in dealing with paedophile priests, but he stopped short of directly addressing well-documented cover-ups by senior clergy.

But as victims gave a mixed response to the Pope’s letter, it was criticised by prominent SDLP politician Declan O’Loan who described it as inadequate.

“I read the letter with a growing sense that another important opportunity had not been grasped properly. I welcome the apology from the Pope though even that could have been worded more unambiguously,” he said.

“However, a full consideration of this issue required a thorough analysis of what went wrong and why it went wrong. That should have led to a clear indication to the Irish Church as to the steps necessary to prevent this kind of abuse, or any other kind of abuse, in the future. In that regard the letter is weak.”

He added: “There is criticism of some bishops in that they failed to apply canon law and that ’grave errors of judgment were made and failures of leadership occurred’. But the exact nature of these failures is not spelled out. The failure to report to civil authorities to prevent further abuse is not made explicit, and it should have been.”

The head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal Seán Brady, is facing continuing calls for his resignation after he confirmed he had interviewed victims of abuse 35 years ago but failed to alert police.

He has argued he fulfilled his role by reporting to his bishop after interviewing the two young victims, who were controversially asked to swear an oath of secrecy.

But he faces continuing criticism for failing to tell police about Fr Brendan Smyth, a notorious paedophile who went on to commit crimes against children for a further 18 years.

Mr O’Loan said he was angry at the Church handling of abuse, but indicated that he saw a future in leadership for Cardinal Brady.

“There remains an urgent task to be done in fully revealing what has happened in the past and fully responding to that through a fundamental reconsideration of Church culture, systems and structure. Cardinal Brady can still lead that work. However, to do so, he must do so in a way that goes far beyond the Pope’s letter, and he needs to show immediately that he has the will and instinct to do this,” said Mr O’Loan.

Father Kevin Hegarty, parish priest in Kilmore-Erris near Belmullet, Co Mayo, was also critical today of the Pope’s letter.

He said his parishioners who heard the letter read to them today wanted to see the Church go further.

“Overall the response would be ’thankfully he’s said something at last’. People I’ve spoken to are appalled and ashamed by the cover-ups and people are just waiting to see what will happen after the Papal letter. Trust won’t be rebuilt just by a Papal letter,” he said.

“I didn’t have any great hopes of the letter, I thought the expectations about it were too high. I thought it was lucid and accessible and I thought his words to the victims showed real concern, however I think that only the victims can judge if it eased their pain in any way.

“There’s a huge disillusionment among people going to Church at the moment because of what has been revealed, especially about the cover-ups and they find it very hard to understand. I think the Pope’s letter is a small step in the right direction... but it’s a long, long journey and it’s not the final step.”

Disappointed that there was not an explicit addressing of the failings of the Vatican and its role in cover-ups, he added: “It needs to be universal because we need to know all the facts. I think nothing should be covered up because it’s cover-ups that have brought us to this appalling situation. I think until there’s full disclosure and full acceptance the Church can’t begin to move forward.”

The Pope’s letter, which congregations have been receiving at weekend Masses throughout the island, is the first of its kind to tackle clerical child abuse.

Its issuing came as Cardinal Brady remains under pressure, and while the Church was also stunned this week by disclosures that two other accused Irish priests agreed to pay thousands of pounds in out-of-court settlements to their alleged victims.

The fresh scandals follow a recent state investigation in the Republic of Ireland which unearthed a sickening litany of past clerical and institutional abuse against children.

Pope Benedict acknowledged that in the past there had been a misplaced emphasis on the Church’s reputation and called for decisive action to restore people’s respect and goodwill.

“I can only share in the dismay and the sense of betrayal that so many of you have experienced on learning of these sinful and criminal acts and the way Church authorities in Ireland dealt with them,” he told followers.

“Together with the immense harm done to victims, great damage has been done to the Church and to the public perception of the priesthood and religious life.”

Irish Survivors of Child Abuse spokesman John Kelly said there were a number of positives to take from Pope Benedict’s letter.

“It would appear that the message overall is one of sincerity to bring about change in the Church,” he said.

But for some survivors of abuse the words were too little, too late.

Campaigners One in Four accused the Pope of skimming over the Vatican’s role in the failings.

And Andrew Madden – who in 1995 became the first person in Ireland to go public with an abuse lawsuit against the church – called on the pontiff to apologise for cover-ups.

“Most of the letter is stuff we heard before – we don’t need to be told it was a crime or a sin,” he added.

Cardinal Brady, who has said he would take a period of time to reflect on his future, asked people to read the letter with an open heart.

“In the name of the Church, Pope Benedict openly expresses the shame and remorse that we all feel about the abuse that has occurred,” Cardinal Brady said.

“He expresses the depth of the pain that has been caused and acknowledges that some people find it difficult even to go inside the doors of a church after all that has occurred.”

In his letter the pontiff expressed willingness to meet victims and said there would be “apostolic visitation” of some Dioceses.

He also told religious figures who had abused children to answer for their actions before properly constituted tribunals.

Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin welcomed the pastoral letter as a further step in the Church’s renewal and healing process.

“It deals with a dramatically painful chapter in the lives of the many who were abused,” he told churchgoers in the capital.

“The Church tragically failed many of its children – it failed through abuse, it failed through not preventing abuse, it failed through covering up abuse.”

Meanwhile, the Bishop of Kerry Bill Murphy was verbally abused during morning Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral in Killarney.

A man in his late 40s entered the church halfway through the service and began shouting before the Bishop read extracts from the Pope’s letter.

He was later arrested and brought to Killarney Garda station where he was charged in relation to a public order offence.

He will appear before Killarney District Court on April 20.