It’s more than ‘deeply sinful’... it’s a serious crime
Winston Churchill’s quote is also of some relevance here in the wake of the Ferns report.
The Church has always seen its ideology challenged by the truth from whatever quarter. It has had many troops and bodyguards, from Opus Dei to their bishops and superiors, to protect their lies.
As usual, Rónán Mullen (Irish Examiner, October 26) has tried to dilute the seriousness of this latest report.
Your columnist says “the Church regarded the abuse of minors as deeply sinful, and sexual corruption of young boys being long thought of as one of the most serious offences against canon law.”
I wonder then when did they leap from the term “sinful” to this now becoming a serious crime to be dealt with in a civil court of law?
Sorry, “sinful” doesn’t quite make the grade when you measure it against the yardsick of what the Church defines as sin. There is no such thing as the “sexual corruption of young boys,” only the sexual abuse of them.
This makes it sound like these boys were willing participants, which we all know they were not. Canon law has no place in a civil democratic society and should never be looked to in a criminal matter. To infer otherwise is to go back to the Dark Ages; it is also deeply offensive to any free-thinking, modern Irish person.
Mr Mullen’s waffle about homosexuality, the challenge for conservatives and liberals, is again to cloud over the very seriousness of a heinous crime against a child.
The failure of the Church was not because they did not listen sensitively or sympathetically to the victims, but because they did not vigorously report the matter to the gardaí and the gardaí only.
Sexual abuse is not a modern phenomenon, but part of human evil since man crawled on all fours. It has no relevance to homosexuality, cleverly hinted at by Mr Mullen.
There is no awareness factor to be taught about sex abuse. There is not a parent or single person of any creed, colour or persuasion on this island who believes that sexual rape and abuse of a child is not a crime.
Is there a priest with such poor mental faculties who does not know this? If it is otherwise the case, he should be removed and defrocked, for ignorance is no defence in law.
Finally, if the so-called Church framework document, published in 1996, goes further than the law requires, we would not now be in this position yet again.
Its core weakness is that it didn’t call on the priests and nuns to report their knowledge and suspicions of abuse directly to the gardaí and civil authorities, and not to their superiors.
Because of this, abuse was greatly encouraged and justice was delayed and greatly hindered.
If anyone needed a reference point, the history of the Church, a truthful history, was all the reference needed.
To parlay once more a slightly amended Churchill quote, “there will be more blood, sweat, toil and tears” for the victims of abuse than there will be for the Catholic Church.
The beginning has not even begun.
Barry Clifford
18 Carrowmannagh
Oughterard
Co Galway
