Abuse report ‘downplays inaction’ of Church

WHILE there may be cause to celebrate better child protection practices now in place in the Catholic Church in Ireland, once more the bishops presenting the latest child abuse report try to downplay the seriousness of their inaction by careful choice of language.

First, the use of the term ‘small number of offending priests’ always raises a wry smile. This is what we were first told when the news of systematic clerical child abuse first broke in Boston in 2000, since when this alleged small number has been replicated in countless countries.

This is still a better soundbite than mentioning the number of individuals abused or the number of times the abuse was repeated. It is also much better than putting a number on the bishops who put protecting the Church’s reputation before the victims, which is clearly a significantly higher figure.