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.

To put this report in perspective, the abuse took place mainly in the late 1970s and early 1980s which means that the victims would now be in their 40s or 50s with families of their own. The audit covers the dioceses of Raphoe (Donegal), Derry, Dromore (Down), Kilmore (Cavan), Ardagh Clonmacnoise (Longford, Leitrim, Offaly) and Tuam archdiocese.

Strongly criticising the diocese of Raphoe, it accuses successive bishops of “significant errors of judgment” in responding to accusations of abuse.To his credit, however, the present Bishop of Raphoe, Dr Philip Boyce, accepts there were “horrific acts of abuse of children by individual priests, that should never have happened, and if suspected should have been dealt with immediately in the appropriate manner”. He concedes that there were “very poor judgments” and that “mistakes” were made in the previous decades.

The Tuam archdiocese is seen as taking “a steadily serious approach” towards clerical sex abuse. Similarly, in contrast with its appalling handling of allegations against the notorious child sex abuser, Fr Brendan Smyth, Kilmore diocese is now regarded as a model of “best practice”. The dioceses of Derry and that of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise are also praised.

The phenomenal scale of child abuse in Ireland has left a legacy of ruined lives. What most decent people find astonishing is that while bishops were laying down moral precepts for their flock to follow, some were delaying probes into child abuse.

It is a nonsense to pretend they were unaware of the moral depravity that such abuse represents. Instead of protecting the innocent victims of monstrous perverts, some bishops considered the image of the institution of the church to be of greater importance. Ironically, their attitude has only discredited the Church in the popular mind.

Child abuse by priests continues to be a grave problem. In the past 36 years there have been 52 allegations against 14 diocesan priests, four of whom were convicted. Yet, despite the deserved criticism of dioceses for their botched handling of allegations of child abuse, important lessons have been learned, according to the report.

In contrast with past experience, child protection guidelines are being implemented seriously, with some bishops adopting a hands-on approach to dealing with allegations when children say they were abused by a priest. And that’s how it should be.