Clerical child abuse - Bishops have learnt from past errors

MORE than words could ever tell, the raw statistics of horrific child abuse by priests in six Catholic dioceses underscore the past record of cover-up within the church whose culture of denial, silence and hypocrisy in the face of damning allegations has seriously undermined its authority in the eyes of the Irish people.

The figures contained in the audit of child protection practices in the church speak for themselves. The diligent spadework of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church shows that out of 164 allegations of child abuse against 85 priests, convictions were secured in eight cases.

Arguably, while some were blameless, such a low conviction rate is probably attributable to bishops not pursuing the issue of child abuse with the gravity it clearly deserves. All too often, there were delays in reporting concerns to the civic authorities and some bishops were more supportive of paedophile priests than their victims.