by Pat Mullan
Prime Minister of Ireland, Taoiseach Enda Kenny speech on Cloyne Report
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0720/cloyne1.html
Excerpts from the Statement by the Taoiseach on the Dáil Motion on the report of the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Diocese of Cloyne, in Dáil Éireann
The revelations of the Cloyne report have brought the Government, Irish Catholics and the Vatican to an unprecedented juncture. It's fair to say that after the Ryan and Murphy Reports Ireland is, perhaps, unshockable when it comes to the abuse of children. But Cloyne has proved to be of a different order. Because for the first time in Ireland, a report into child sexual-abuse exposes an attempt by the Holy See, to frustrate an Inquiry in a sovereign, democratic republic.as little as three years ago, not three decades ago.
And in doing so, the Cloyne Report excavates the dysfunction, disconnection, elitism....the narcissism that dominate the culture of the Vatican to this day.
The rape and torture of children were downplayed or 'managed' to uphold instead, the primacy of the institution, its power, standing and 'reputation'. Far from listening to evidence of humiliation and betrayal with St Benedict's 'ear of the heart'......the Vatican's reaction was to parse and analyse it with the gimlet eye of a canon lawyer. This calculated, withering position being the polar opposite of the radicalism, humility and compassion upon which the Roman Church was founded. The radicalism, humility and compassion which are the very essence of its foundation and purpose. The behaviour being a case of Roma locuta est: causa finita est. Except in this instance, nothing could be further from the truth.
A day post-publication, the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade met with the Papal Nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza. The Tánaiste left the Archbishop clear on two things: The gravity of the actions and attitude of the Holy See.
And Ireland's complete rejection and abhorrence of same. The Papal Nuncio undertook to present the Cloyne Report to the Vatican. The Government awaits the considered response of the Holy See.
I believe that the Irish people, including the very many faithful Catholics who - like me - have been shocked and dismayed by the repeated failings of Church authorities to face up to what is required, deserve and require confirmation from the Vatican that they do accept, endorse and require compliance by all Church authorities here with, the obligations to report all cases of suspected abuse, whether current or historical, to the State's authorities in line with the Children First National Guidance which will have the force of law.
Clericalism has rendered some of Ireland's brightest, most privileged and powerful men, either unwilling or unable to address the horrors cited in the Ryan and Murphy Reports. This Roman Clericalism must be devastating for good priests.... some of them old... others struggling to keep their humanity....even their sanity........as they work so hard.....to be the keepers of the Church's light and goodness within their parishes...... communities... the human heart.
But thankfully for them, and for us, this is not Rome. Nor is it industrial-school or Magdalene Ireland, where the swish of a soutane smothered conscience and humanity and the swing of a thurible ruled the Irish-Catholic world. This is the 'Republic' of Ireland 2011. A Republic of laws.....of rights and responsibilities....of proper civic order..... where the delinquency and arrogance of a particular version..... of a particular kind of 'morality'..... will no longer be tolerated or ignored.
Cardinal Josef Ratzinger said: 'Standards of conduct appropriate to civil society or the workings of a democracy cannot be purely and simply applied to the Church.' As the Holy See prepares its considered response to the Cloyne Report, as Taoiseach, I am making it absolutely clear, that when it comes to the protection of the children of this State, the standards of conduct which the Church deems appropriate to itself, cannot and will not, be applied to the workings of democracy and civil society in this republic. Not purely, or simply or otherwise.
THE CLOYNE, MURPHY, RYAN, FERNS REPORTS
THE CLOYNE REPORT (2011)
http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0713/cloyne.html
Thursday, 14 July 2011
The Cloyne Report has found that former Bishop John Magee falsely told the Government and the HSE that the Catholic Diocese was reporting all allegations of clerical child sexual abuse to the civil authorities. It also found the Bishop deliberately misled another inquiry and his own advisors by creating two different accounts, one for the Vatican and the other for diocesan files. Running to 400 pages and detailing findings on 19 priests who faced abuse allegations over a 13-year period, the report deals with how the Cloyne Diocese handled abuse allegations as recently as 2009. The report criticised Bishop Magee for showing little or no interest in the management of clerical child sexual abuse until just three years ago. In the opening pages, the report claims that the Bishop had 'detached himself' from the management of child sexual abuse cases. It declares that his response was 'totally inadequate'. The Commission states that the greatest failure by the diocese was its failure to report all cases to gardaí.
THE MURPHY REPORT (2009)
http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/1126/abuse.html
Thursday, 26 November 2009
The three-volume report, covering a period of abuse from the period 1975 to 2004, was published this afternoon by Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern. The report details a litany of abuse perpetrated by priests against more than 300 victims. It says that Archbishop Desmond Connell's strategies in refusing to admit liability often added to the hurt and grief of many victims of abuse. The Commission of Investigation cost a total of €3.6m up to April of this year.The report rubbishes the view put forward by the church that the abuse was hidden from view and somehow took church authorities by surprise. It states that the vast majority of priests turned a blind eye to abuse. The report states that the Commission has no doubt that clerical child abuse was covered up by the Archdiocese of Dublin and other church authorities. It states that the structures and rules of the church facilitated that cover-up. It also says that State authorities facilitated the cover up by allowing the church to be beyond the reach of the law. It claims that the welfare of children, which should have been the first priority, was not even a factor considered in the early days by State and church authorities. The preservation of the good name, status and assets of church institutions was the first priority, according to the report, which states that priests were seen as the most important members of the institution. The Commission says that it has identified 320 people who complained of child sexual abuse during the period 1975-2004. It also states that since May 2004 130 complaints against priests operating in the Dublin Arch Diocese have been made. The report details the cases of 46 priests guilty of abuse, as a representative sample of 102 priests within its remit.
THE RYAN REPORT (2009)
http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0520/abuse.html
Wednesday, 20 May 2009
This new report says sexual abuse was endemic in boys' institutions and a chronic problem in some residential institutions. The report has strongly criticised the Department of Education for its handling of complaints about residential institutions. The Department of Education generally dismissed or ignored complaints of child sexual abuse and dealt inadequately with them according to the report. The report states that the safety of children was not a priority for the Christian Brothers who ran the institutions. The report follows ten years of work by the commission which dealt with thousands of complaints from former residents of predominantly Catholic institutions. The report says that the Christian Brothers Order was defensive in the way it responded to complaints and claims the order fails to accept any congregational responsibility for such abuse. More allegations were made against the Christian Brothers than all of the other male orders combined. The commission received thousands of complaints of emotional, physical and sexual trauma inflicted on children by Catholic priests, brothers and nuns. More than 100 institutions, chiefly run by religious o
rders, including industrial schools, institutions for children with disabilities and ordinary day schools, were examined by the commission chaired by Mr Justice Seán Ryan.
THE FERNS REPORT (2005)
http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/1025/ferns.html
Tuesday, 25 October 2005
The report of the Ferns Inquiry says that it identified more than 100 allegations of child sexual abuse, made between 1962 and 2002, against 21 priests.Six of the priests had died before any allegations of abuse were made against them. The report concludes that 'both Bishop Herlihy and Bishop Comiskey placed the interests of individual priests ahead of those of the community in which they served'. It says the nature of the response by the Church authorities in the Diocese of Ferns to allegations of child sexual abuse by priests operating under the aegis of that diocese has varied over the past 40 years. The report says that between 1960 and 1980, it would appear that Bishop Donal Herlihy treated child sexual abuse by priests of his diocese exclusively as a moral problem.
He penalised the priest against whom the allegation was made by transferring him to a different post or different diocese for a time, but then returned him to his former position. It says that by 1980, Bishop Herlihy recognised that there was a psychological or medical dimension to the issue of child sexual abuse. His decision in 1980 to send priests in respect of whom allegations of abuse were made to a psychologist was 'appropriate'. But 'what was wholly inappropriate and totally inexplicable' was the decision to appoint to curacies priests against whom allegations had been made and in respect of whom a respected clerical psychologist had expressed his concerns in unambiguous terms as to their suitability to interact with young people. The report criticises Bishop Herlihy's decision to ordain 'clearly unsuitable men' into the priesthood when he knew or ought to have known that they had a propensity to abuse children. In the case of Bishop Brendan Comiskey, the report says that 'in almost every case significant periods elapsed' before the Bishop could persuade the priest in question to vacate his position and undergo assessment and treatment. The report says that in no case did Bishop Comiskey persuade or compel the priest concerned to stand aside from his priestly ministry. The Ferns Inquiry also highlighted major failures in St Peter's College where all the priests investigated by the inquiry were ordained. Over a random five-year period selected by the inquiry, ten priests who were in St Peter's have come to the attention of the inquiry over allegations of child sexual abuse. Fr Donal Collins who was a teacher and then a principal, consistently abused boys over a 21-period, it says. A member of a religious order, who spoke to the inquiry, recalled a high level of sexual activity in the college but did not recall child sexual abuse as being a problem.
Pat Mullan was born in Ireland and has lived in England, Canada and the USA. He now lives in Ireland. He has published articles, poetry and short stories in magazines such as Crannóg,Buffalo Spree, Tales of the Talisman, Writers Post Journal. His short story, Galway Girl, was short-listed for the WOW Awards and was published in the new WOW Magazine in Galway in April 2010.
Recent work has appeared in the anthologies, DUBLIN NOIR (published in the USA by Akashic Books and in Ireland and the UK by Brandon Books) ,City-Pick DUBLIN (published by Oxygen Books in 2010 to mark Dublin being chosen as UNESCO’S City of Culture for 2010), and NOIR by NOIR West (from Arlen House) in 2014.
His first novel, The Circle of Sodom, received two nominations, one for Best First Novel and one for Best Suspense Thriller, at the 2005 Love Is Murder conference in Chicago. His second novel, Blood Red Square, was published in the US in 2005 and a new edition, published in 2011, is now available on-line as a paperback and as an ebook. His latest novels, Last Days of the Tiger and Creatures of Habit are now available on-line as ebooks on Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble’s Nook, Kobo, and elsewhere; they are also available in paperback.
He is a member of International Thriller Writers, Inc. and Mystery Writers of America.
Visit him at: www.patmullan.com