Liberal agenda not to blame for child abuse

IN his letter (January 24), Seamus Ó Niadh tries to understate the significance of clerical sex abuse of children by claiming these only represent 3% or 4% of child abuse cases.

CORI (The Conference of Religious in Ireland) claims to represent more than 10,000 men and women in religious life in the 32 counties.

This figure represents only one-quarter of 1% of the population.

For 3% or 4% of child sex abuse cases to be generated from a minuscule section of the population is quite staggering.

That this sector is committed to celibacy makes the statistic even more bizarre.

Mr Ó Niadh’s attempt to link child abuse to a liberal agenda which allows normal sexual activity to overflow into extremes of unacceptable behaviour would seem false if we consider that young people entering religious life tend to be drawn from the conservative sector of Irish life.

The age profile of many of the clerical abusers also shows they had entered religious life in the 1940s and 1950s, a period when Irish attitudes to sexual morality were very much influenced by the Catholic Church.

If Mr Ó Niadh wishes to encourage “high quality religious analysis”, then a good starting point might be to identify if any factors in traditional Catholic education and training contributed to clerical sex abuse.

Gearóid Ó Dubhain

Clarkeswood

Mount Oval Village

Rochestown

Co Cork