Even-handed response to abuse: Consistent standards must apply

ARCHBISHOP Diarmuid Martin’s no-wriggle-room reassertion last week that all allegations of clerical child sexual abuse must be reported to gardaí is very welcome, even if he had no alternative but to restate that policy, one he fought so hard to have implemented. Any other position would have been untenable and out of character.

Archbishop Martin was responding to a Vatican training guide for newly-appointed bishops that suggested it is “not necessarily” a bishop’s duty to report clerics suspected of child abuse to civil authorities. The guide suggested that only victims or their families should make the decision to report abuse to police. The document emphasised that, though they must be aware of local laws, bishops’ only duty was to address such allegations internally.

This Vatican document, written by controversial French monsignor and psychotherapist Tony Anatrella, seems to give primacy to religious codes over civil law and celebrates the culture of secrecy and denial that has effectively changed the character and position of Catholicism in Ireland.