Damning indictment of the Church

The survey published yesterday by the Catholic Church in Ireland into child sexual abuse by the clergy, is a damning indictment of the lack of compassion the hierarchy showed in handling cases, and, indeed, their willingness to accept that the scandal existed in the first place.

The survey was commissioned by the Irish Bishops Conference and was conducted by the psychology department of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and almost 1,300 people participated in it. As the Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of

All-Ireland, Most Rev Seán Brady said, the survey makes for “painful” reading for all involved in the Catholic Church.

Indeed it does with almost four out of five people believing the Church has not dealt adequately with the problem, and only 42% trusted the it to safeguard children entrusted to its care.

There is a semblance of comfort in it for the Church as the survey found that a little over half reported satisfaction with priests today and 47% said priests were better today compared to the past.

There is much for the hierarchy to contemplate in the findings of the survey, but the commitment to implement all of the 19 recommendations it makes to address the prevention of child sexual abuse by clergy must be upheld.