Church stuck in Dark Ages

IT would be difficult to exaggerate the sense of dismay following claims that the Church has no obligation to bring cases of clerical child abuse to the notice of the garda authorities.

The Church contends such obligation lies with the victims or their parents.

In line with Vatican policy, the contention that the Church should not be the prime mover in bringing these crimes to light will further heighten fears of possible cover-ups as the scandal of abuse continues to rock the institution.

Divisions are now emerging within the Church. Rank-and-file members of the clergy are adding their voices to the clamour for answers about the Church’s handling of a chain of clerical child abuse scandals.

However, the status quo continues. The Church continues to believe that when there are conflicts between Canon Law and the law of the land, canon law takes precedent. Officially, only files and records considered by Church authorities to be relevant should be made available to a garda investigation.

However, where highly serious crimes such as child rape are involved, the approach advocated by the Church will be construed as obstructing the course of justice. It is redolent of the Dark Ages.

The extent of the split in the clergy was palpable in a discussion on RTE’s Morning Ireland programme. In an unprecedented development, a spokesman for the National Conference of Priests, Fr Colm Kilcoyne, called on Cardinal Desmond Connell to open the books of the Archdiocese to the authorities. He said words such as ‘sorry’, ‘compassion’, ‘shamed’ and ‘anger’ had become a substitute for action.

But on the vexed question of whether Canon Law or the law of the land is paramount, former professor Dr Maurice Dooley argued the State should try criminal actions, whether committed by priests, cardinal or lay people, but stressed that if there was a conflict “then we obey God rather than man”.

He was in favour of proper trials in the State as well as proper trials in the Church, but opposed trials by media. He also complained of the “demonising” of Cardinal Connell amid on-going calls for his resignation. It is timely to re-state that without the media, the appalling scenario of clerical sex abuse would have remained under the rock.

While the intellectual argument goes on, horrific evidence of abuse continues to emerge. The sooner the gardaí are brought in to investigate this scandalous affair, the better.

However, hard questions must also be asked about the garda handling of a litany of child rape cases. Right or wrong, their inaction in some instances in the past will only heighten suspicions of cover-up.

Among shocking new revelations now emerging, a former parish priest seduced boys at a heated swimming pool in the presbytery of a Dublin parish.

This comes hard on the heels of evidence that an official cloak of silence enabled a paedophile priest to continue wearing clerical garb and preying on his victims long after he had been de-frocked.

In the face of growing demands for answers, the Church can no longer hide behind Canon Law.

Suspicions of a cover-up by Church authorities operating under an out-dated code of secrecy will not go away.

The unfolding scandal of clerical abuse of children is truly appalling. The frightening question is, how many other cases have yet to come to light? Having set up a probe into clerical sex abuse of children in Ferns, the Government should do the same in Dublin.