Abuse report - Too little and far, far too late

Anyone familiar with the active evil uncovered by investigations into child abuse by Catholic clergy will have looked to yesterday’s publication of a summary of a report prepared by a delegation representing Pope Benedict XVI with some interest.

Committed Catholics may have hoped that it might play a part in rebuilding the Church, that it might move the heartbreaking issue another step towards closure.

Others, especially those abused as children, may have had different hopes. They may still have issues to resolve before closure can even be considered. More, including many disengaged Catholics, will barely look over their shoulder at the report, seeing it as little more than a postcard from a half-forgotten part of their lives.

However, yesterday’s deeply disturbing news from Holland, that at least 10 young men were castrated “to get rid of homosexuality” while in the care of the Dutch Catholic Church in the 1950s, underlines again the almost impenetrable darkness that shrouds this issue. That the castrations were not referred to in an official investigation last year will have unsettling, familiar echoes here. That omission, willful or otherwise, runs parallel to the fact that yesterday’s report does not acknowledge the Vatican’s hands-on role in putting the institution of the Church, and its priests, before child protection. Until this betrayal is admitted, and the implications of that collusion recognised, then it seems that this tragedy cannot be considered closed.

It seems that as long as revelations such as yesterday’s horrors from Holland are made, and it is terribly sad that they seem so endless, the wounds will not heal. It means, too, that reports such as yesterday’s, no matter how sincere, are just small steps along a long, difficult road to a new equilibrium for Catholicism in Ireland.

The extract spoke in generalities and, inevitably, reiterated apologies to victims and the deep sense of betrayal felt by the great majority of Catholics, lay or ordained, at the actions of a perverse minority. It sought forgiveness from victims and from God.

It spoke of training seminarians to recognise and prevent abuse, of systems to audit procedures designed to protect children. It spoke of redefining the criteria by which would-be priests are assessed and of modifying their education for a greater awareness of the issue.

Any comprehensive assessment will have to wait until it is published in full, but it does seem, to borrow a phrase from a different sphere, that the Church will have to undergo a period of decontamination before its credibility or authority can be even a shadow of what it once was. The damage this issue has done to its victims and to Catholicism will not be fully appreciated for decades. Yesterday’s report, and it must be welcomed as honest, will do little to change positions on the other issues that define Church-state relationships.

School patronage, religious education, same-sex marriage, the legitimacy of homosexuality, medical ethics and research, social justice and, most explosively of all, abortion are all issues that demand solutions.

The Catholic Church’s loss of influence in these areas is a direct consequence of its appalling behaviour on child abuse. The penalty it has paid is the loss of its pre-eminent position in Irish life, though what might replace it remains to be seen. In that light, yesterday’s publication is probably too little and certainly far too late for a great, and growing, number of Irish people.