What next for the priesthood? Three Irish priests interviewed by Irish Times

Fr Michael Kelly, St Agnes's, Crumlin, Dublin. Photo: Matt Kavanagh

Yesterday's Irish Times carried an article by Rosita Boland, What next for the priesthood? based on interviews with three Irish priests, one based in Dublin, one in County Cork and one in Galway City. The interviews were done in the wake of the Murphy Report on the abuse of children by priests in the Archdiocese of Dublin.

I've highlighted some parts of the article and added some [comments].

After the annus horribilis that was 2009, three priests at different stages of their vocational lives talk to ROSITA BOLAND about how their views of the church have changed and what they think the future will hold

FR MICHAEL KELLY (34)
Diocesan priest in Dublin, based in Crumlin, One year ordained


It was always at the back of my mind that I wanted to be a priest. I looked up to priests when I was a child. I was seven when I first started thinking about it.


In my late teenage years, I fell away from the church, and didn’t attend Mass that often. I dropped out of school after my Junior Cert [a state exam taken after three years in high school, followed by the Leaving Ceritifcate two or three years later], and started up a rock’n’roll band with my brother. We called it Whyne. We thought that was a cool name!


I volunteered at the Capuchin homeless centre in Blanchardstown, which developed my faith life – helping people who were having a difficult time in their life. It made me start reading the Gospel on my own. I have a friendship with Jesus as well as knowing he is my Lord and Saviour.


After the band, I’d worked at Motorola and then at St Luke’s Hospital, where I was a ward orderly – helping people again. I decided I wanted to get to know Jesus. When it comes down to it, I became a priest because I believe that’s what God called me to do. Everyone in my family was quite shocked, especially my brother I’d been in the band with, but they were supportive. There were 16 of us who started in my year. Only seven were ordained.


I wasn’t even born when the abuse in the church went on, so I don’t feel guilty – but I do feel a collective sense of shame. The people named in the reports should resign. I’m angry. I’m upset. When trust has been broken the way it has, it’s very difficult to rebuild it. There has been so much hypocrisy in the church, and people can’t get past that.


It’s not easy. I’ve been called a child rapist on the street. It has affected my faith: I’ve been spending more time in prayer. It has made me question and look at the structure of the Catholic Church. There was so much deceit and cover-up. It’s time for big changes. In one way, it is a great challenge to be a priest now, because the church faces such challenges; I have to see it as an opportunity. [The word 'crisis' means something like that].


Those priests who abused children studied moral theology when they trained. I just don’t know how you can be a Christian and do the things they did.


FR JAMES McSWEENEY (40)


Diocesan priest in Cork; chaplain at Cólaiste Choilm, Ballincollig, Co Cork Fifteen years ordained


I was 18 when I went into Maynooth [St Patrick's National Seminary and the only seminary in Ireland still open]. The world is a very different place now from when we were going to school; faith was accepted, a part of everyone’s life then. Back in the 1980s, the priesthood was an option that was just there as something to do after school. I thought: why not try it out? Looking back now, it was definitely way too young. In those days, people went straight from school to Maynooth. But you need a gap. [It was the norm for young men to go into seminaries after finishing secondary schooling, which was then five years in Ireland. There is now an optional extra year before the final year when the emphasis is more on working on subjects or topics you like rather than on the academics you will be taking in the Leaving Certificate. But not everyone who came to the seminary n my time after having worked for some years persevered].


I came into the priesthood as vocations were peaking. [Numbers in the seminaries had already dropped considerably by the 1980s. The peak was in the 1960s. But from Father McSweeney's perspective the 1980s were peak years because the many seminaries were all still open]. There were 72 with me in the class when I started; 27 of them finished. That was still a big number. There’s been nothing like those numbers since – they’ve tumbled.


In the school, the students are aware of the stories about the church, but it’s outside their world. The institutionalised church means nothing to them. They have abandoned the church formally, but in terms of their own inspiration, they’re in a great place, and are very open to all forms of spirituality. [This is what I find heart-breaking. I believe that in abandoning the Church they have also abandoned the Christian faith, though many are willing to make greater sacrifices for others, at least in the short term, than we were. This abandonment of the Church, as I see it, is not a direct consequence of the abuse that had been going on and that most were not aware of. But the scandal is helping accelerate this abandonment of the Church and of the Christian faith].


The stories about the church really started coming out in 1995, and they’ve been coming constantly since. Personally, I’ve found it very, very difficult. At times, I’ve felt very lonely, and very isolated. Isolated in the sense that there’s that thought that you’re tarnished with the same brush. People feel genuinely hurt and let down, and I share people’s horror and disgust. There are no words to describe the anger, horror, betrayal, everything . . . There are no words to describe the horror of this story. [One image that has been in my mind lately is a story I read just after the old Czechoslovakia became tow separate republics, the Czech Republic and Slovakia at midnight at the beginning of New Year's Day 1993. An airline pilot who had taken off from one part of a united country before midnight and landed in the other part, now a separate republic, after midnight, said on arrival that he felt like a man without a country. He felt lost. When I think of how Ireland has changed since I first left it in 1968 I see a different country, but to a large degree in continuity with what was there before. As a missionary I welcomed the influx of foreigners to Ireland since 2000. But the shame of what has been revealed has brought about something quite different and very hard to accept].


I do think people should resign. Absolutely. I would certainly say that. There has been too much holding on to power, too much hiding behind the institution of the church. There has been a lack of openness and honesty. They let so many people down and I feel angry about that.


If I saw what was ahead when I was starting out, no way would I have gone into the priesthood. Not a hope. [This statement is honest and sad. Yet 12 or 13 novices joined the Dominican Friars in Ireland this year and three Redemptorist priests were ordained around the time the Murphy Report was published]. That’s just being honest with you. There have been times when I felt: “Why bother? Why stay?” I would have been there. I would have thought of moving on..


Faith is obviously still important to me, that’s what keeps me here. But the church is in huge transition. It can never ever go back to where it’s been. It’s going to take years and years to rebuild openness and trust.


The reason I’m still in the priesthood is the young people, who give me great inspiration and hope. We need to tap into that. The liturgy and the way the church speak to people doesn’t connect with people – people have walked.[Although Fr McSweeney acknowledges that many have 'walked' and that the young have abandoned the Church, he finds hope in the goodness he sees in the latter].


In the future, we’ll be looking at smaller faith communities. The days of big numbers are long gone. People won’t come back to the church. [I have hope that migrants from places such as the Philippines, Poland, Kerala in India, Nigeria will continue to bring some new life to the Irish Church. But I have a fear that their children will be overwhelmed by the secularism and the unwillingness to make commitments that are so much part of the contemporary West. But why do people still go to the church for funerals? I heard an older woman being interviewed on Irish radio the other day who acknowledged that religion played no part whatever in her life now - but she wanted to be buried from the Catholic church because its ceremonies give her some comfort. She was brough up a Catholic and clearly showed no resentment whatever towards the Church. But religion means nothing to her now. Funerals are still occasions when priests can preach the Good News because people are open to it, I think. and it is noticeable that on occasions of funerals after tragedies, the Irish media very often quote the parish priest].


FR DICK LYNG (59)


Augustinian parish priest, Galway city. Ordained 35 years


Idealism. That’s why I wanted to be a priest. [I still see that idealism in so many priests I know. One outstanding example is my Columban confrere, Fr Michael Sinnott, kidnapped for a month some time ago and coming back to the Philippines this month after a holiday in Ireland]. I wanted to do something useful with my life. I was born into a Catholic culture, and priesthood was the obvious channel in those days for finding expression for idealism. I went into training straight from school, when I was 18 – 95 per cent of people did that. At the time it was considered the most normal thing to do – you went into medicine; you became a priest. I had faith, but for that time it was normal. It was no different to the faith of fellas sitting beside me at school. [That was my experience too. I'm seven years older than Father Lyng].


It is almost impossible for me to comprehend that fellow priests were damaging small children. I was shocked to the core. [I never heard of such things until the 1980s. More recently, Padraig Harrington, Ireland's greatest golfer, who has been playing with Tiger Woods for many years, was dumbfounded when the other side of Tiger's life becake known recently. But some of what has come to light in the Murphy Report has led me to ask if some of the priests ever had any faith and if, indeed, they were validly ordained for lack of faith].


But if it didn’t shock people, that would be more shocking still. A priest who doesn’t feel tarnished, contaminated – to use all the diseased terms there are – is living in cloud cuckoo land. [Yet, at present, there seems to be a denial in Ireland of the claimes of groups such as One in Four that a quarter of children are abused. The SAVI Survey claims that abuse by priests/ministers/religious is 3.2 percent. In other words, there's little concern being expressed at present, it seems, for the other 97 percent. I recognise an additional element of betrayal by one who is, by ordination, 'configured to Christ'].


Older people feel very contaminated by what happened. My parishioners tell me their faith is safe, but that they are extremely hurt and confused. Confused is the word I hear most. They are extremely supportive of priests on the ground, but anger is articulated to me privately. There is huge confusion and disappointment. I have had parishioners asking me should they have demonstrations. I tell them: only the victims can call for rallies. It will be the victims who make that decision.


There is already a missing generation in the church. My parishioners are old. Whenever I do a wedding, I think: where are these young people on a Sunday morning? The young generation was gone already from the church, but all this will accelerate it further.


We’ll be dealing with this for the rest of my lifetime, and for generations after me. There is no quick fix.


The contracts of trust are gone. [This is one of the worst consequences. Not only were the children betrayed but, in a different way, so were so many others. The recent dismissal of an Irish judge of a character reference by a parish priest is indicative of this]. We’ll have to be a very different church. The church that encouraged secrecy and deceit – that will all have to be flushed out. The future church will be a very small.church, a very shrunken church. [Has Ireland already become like Quebec, Belgium, the Netherlands, France? Will it become like North Africa did not long after the death of St Augustine, a once flourishing Catholic Christian area that was overtaken by Islam? When I went home to Ireland from the Philippines for a visit in 2007 I decided for a number of reasons that I would wear my clericals most of the time, something I hadn't done for many years except when going to the church. Ironically, perhaps. one of the reasons was seeing so many Muslims in Ireland wearing garb that indicated their faith. I had some very positive experiences and no negative ones for wearing my clerical garb. But I'm asking myself, what will I do when I go home in July? Maybe its the question of a coward]..

Would I have joined the priesthood if I had known what lay ahead for the church in Ireland? That’s impossible to answer. I wouldn’t even attempt to answer. I did what I did. I believed at the time what I was doing was right.

In defence of Bishop Drennan of Galway

Bishop Martin Drennan of Galway

I received the email below from Robert Fuller of Galway who read my post of 29 December, 'Catholic Church in Ireland 'burning down'.

Sexual abuse of children is a most horrible crime in which there is no
room for complacency. As a parent and a catholic I join the calls that
all those involved in neglect or cover up should resign.

With the reported resignation of four bishops this month, there seems
to be an expectancy that our Bishop of Galway, Martin Drennan, should
be next to go. Bishop Drennan’s name does appear in the Murphy
Report, but his actions are commended, not criticised.

The Murphy Report gives a harrowing account of how Dublin Archdiocese
handled allegations and suspicions of child sexual abuse against
clerics during the period 1975-2004. The truth, not widely reported
before Christmas by the media, is that Bishop Drennan was appointed as
an Auxiliary Bishop in Dublin Archdiocese only in 1997, which was
after the much acclaimed “Framework Document” for dealing with such
complaints was already in place.

In over 700 pages, Bishop Drennan’s name is mentioned in connection
with only 1 of the 46 cases examined. In that case, concerns and
suspicions (not allegations of child sexual abuse) about “Fr. Guido”
(a pseudo name) were brought to Bishop Drennan’s attention, and the
Murphy Report commends how these were dealt with, concluding, “The
Archdiocese acted correctly in immediately addressing the concerns and
suspicions in this case”. (The Murphy Report, page 620)

Like many people in this country, I am angry. For many victims of
child sexual abuse, suffering was increased by injustice in how
concerns and allegations were handled. But neither the suffering or
anger can be relieved in a meaningful way through a further injustice
of delegating guilt and punishment to those not responsible. True
reform must seek to understand and address the reasons why bishops put
corporate and self preservation ahead of the Gospel.

If Bishop Drennan was involved in the neglect or cover up of
allegations of child sexual abuse then I would be also calling for his
resignation. However, the current evidence backed by the Murphy
Report is that he had behaved pro-actively for the protection and
safety of children. Accepting this and his word to be true, I for one
do not believe that his resignation would serve any purpose of
justice, reform, or healing.

Thanks for having taken the time to read through. Please support
Bishop Drennan by forwarding this email to others who may be
interested.

Sincerely,

Robert Fuller

Catholic Church in Ireland 'burning down'

The photo of St Mel’s Cathedral, Longford, Ireland, which burned in the early hours of Christmas Day, is an apt image of the Catholic Church in Ireland at the moment. Four bishops have resigned in the last few weeks in the aftermath of the Dublin (Murphy) Report published on 26 November. It was produced by a commission set up by the Irish government to look into the sexual abuse of children by priests in the Archdiocese of Dublin.

The ceiling of St Mel's Cathedral

The four bishops were auxiliaries in the archdiocese during some of the period under examination, 1975 to 2004. The Report concluded that the Dublin Archdiocese's pre-occupations in dealing with cases of child sexual abuse, at least until the mid 1990s, were the maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the Church, and the preservation of its assets. All other considerations, including the welfare of children and justice for victims, were subordinated to these priorities. The Archdiocese did not implement its own canon law rules and did its best to avoid any application of the law of the State.

Bishop Donal Murray

Pope Benedict accepted the resignation of Bishop Donal Murray of Limerick on 17 December . Bishop James Moriarty of Kildare and Leighlin announced his resignation on 23 December while auxiliary bishops Eamonn Walsh and Raymond field of Dublin informed Archbishop Diarmuid Martin late on Christmas Eve that they were submitting their resignations to Pope Benedict.

Bishop James Moriarty

Many welcomed what Bishop Moriarty said in his statement: However, with the benefit of hindsight, I accept that, from the time I became an Auxiliary Bishop, I should have challenged the prevailing culture.

Bishops Eamonn Walsh and Raymond Field

Bishop Martin Drennan

There is pressure on Bishop Martin Drennan of Galway to resign. He was an auxiliary bishop in Dublin from 1997 to 2005. I can find only one reference to actions by him in the Report. It had to do with a priest who was behaving inappropriately with teenage boys. The Report is in no way critical of Bishop Drennan. However, those demanding his resignation say that all the bishops in Dublin at the time shared responsibility for what happened.

A telling postscript to all of this is that just before Christmas a judge in Tuam, County Galway, seat of the Archbishop of Tuam, a diocese where almost 99 percent of the people describe themselves as Catholics, refused a character reference from a parish priest for a man charged with driving while drunk. 'I don’t want a reference from a parish priest. I have not time for that,' said Judge Browne. He accepted letters from a neighbour of the defendant and from his niece.

The same report added, 'Earlier this month Judge Donagh McDonagh was highly critical of a character reference given by Fr Sean Sheehy at the Circuit Criminal Court in Tralee when security man Danny Foley was sentenced to seven years in jail for sexually assaulting a woman.
Fr Sheehy later stepped down from duties as Castlegregory parish priest'. (Fr Sheehy is a retired priest from the USA who was holding down the parish while the parish priest was recovering from a serious illness. Bishop William Murphy of Kerry dissociated himself and the diocese from Father Sheehy's act. The priest was also one of about 50 men who shook hands with the convicted man, in the presence of the woman he had assaulted.)

I have read at least one letter in an Irish paper from a parent who sees the very presence of a priest in a Catholic school as a danger to children. For some, the priest in Ireland is now the very opposite of a person who can be trusted.

While preparing this I received two letters from friends in Dublin, where I’m from, both of them faithful Catholics. One wrote, I think you are living in a much better country than being here in Dublin. Life is very difficult here, with no jobs, and you know what is ongoing with the Church. The other wrote, Pope Benedict is due to get a horrible Christmas present from our Archbishop and Cardinal in the coming week. The whole thing is just awful. (Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin and Cardinal Seán Brady of Armagh met with Pope Benedict on 11 December).

Fr Michael Sinnott

But both letters from my Dublin friends had a note of hope, one saying, As I am writing, Fr Sinnott (the Columban priest who was kidnapped in the Philippines in October and held for just over a month) is being interviewed on the radio. He is a very courageous and brave man. We are all very proud of him. It was a terrible time for him. The other had this to say, The wonderful and joyous event was the home-coming of Fr Sinnott. We were all praying for his safe release and it must have been a very worrying time for you all. He sure is a great man and we couldn’t believe that his wish was to get back to the Philippines.

To some of us, Fr Michael Sinnott and others like him are an expression of the hope contained in the words of Isaiah read at the Midnight Mass on Christmas night: The people that walked in darkness, have seen a great light: to them that dwelt in the region of the shadow of death, light is risen (Is 9:2).

Resignation statement of Bishop Donal Murray of Limerick, Ireland

Pope Benedict today accepted the resignation of Bishop Donal Murray of Limerick, Ireland. The Dublin (Murphy) Report described the way the bishop had dealt with allegations of the abuse of children by a priest in the Archdiocese of Dublin as 'inexcusable'. Bishop Murray was an auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese at the time.

Statement by Bishop Donal Murray on his resignation as Bishop of Limerick

17 December 2009

Bishop Donal Murray has today, 17th December 2009, confirmed that the Pope has accepted his resignation with immediate effect as Bishop of the Diocese of Limerick. Bishop Murray’s resignation has been announced by the Holy See today at 11 a.m.

Announcing his decision to a congregation, including priests of the Diocese, people working in the Diocesan Office and the Diocesan Pastoral Centre, at 11 a.m. in St. John’s Cathedral, Bishop Murray said: “I met the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops on Monday 7th December. I asked him to bring my resignation as Bishop of Limerick to Pope Benedict. The Holy Father has accepted my resignation which takes effect from this morning at 11 a.m. Irish time.

“I have heard the views of many survivors, especially in the days following the publication of the Murphy Report. Some expressed the wish that I should resign; others asked me not to do so. I know full well that my resignation cannot undo the pain that survivors of abuse have suffered in the past and continue to suffer each day. I humbly apologise once again to all who were abused as little children. To all survivors of abuse I repeat that my primary concern is to assist in every way that I can, on their journey towards finding closure and serenity.

“A bishop is meant to be a person who seeks to lead and inspire all the people of the diocese in living as a community united in the truth and love of Christ. I asked the Holy Father to allow me to resign and to appoint a new bishop to the Diocese because I believe that my presence will create difficulties for some of the survivors who must have first place in our thoughts and prayers.

“Let my last words as Bishop of Limerick be those I spoke in St. Joseph's on 29th November last: ‘We are people who believe that God’s mercy and God’s healing are without limit. We are meant to be bearers of that hope to one another and especially to people whose trust was betrayed when they were just little children and who endured the terror, helplessness and suffering inflicted by a frightening and dominant adult. They should always have a special place in our prayers’."

Donal Murray

Pope 'deeply disturbed and distressed' by Dublin Report on child abuse by priests

IRISH BISHOPS MEET WITH POPE

VATICAN CITY, 11 DEC 2009 (VIS) - The Holy See Press Office released the following English-language communique at midday today:

"Today the Holy Father held a meeting with senior Irish bishops and high- ranking members of the Roman Curia. He listened to their concerns and discussed with them the traumatic events that were presented in the Irish Commission of Investigation's Report into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin.

"After careful study of the report, the Holy Father was deeply disturbed and distressed by its contents. He wishes once more to express his profound regret at the actions of some members of the clergy who have betrayed their solemn promises to God, as well as the trust placed in them by the victims and their families, and by society at large.

"The Holy Father shares the outrage, betrayal and shame felt by so many of the faithful in Ireland, and he is united with them in prayer at this difficult time in the life of the Church.
"His Holiness asks Catholics in Ireland and throughout the world to join him in praying for the victims, their families and all those affected by these heinous crimes.

"He assures all concerned that the Church will continue to follow this grave matter with the closest attention in order to understand better how these shameful events came to pass and how best to develop effective and secure strategies to prevent any recurrence.

"The Holy See takes very seriously the central issues raised by the report, including questions concerning the governance of local Church leaders with ultimate responsibility for the pastoral care of children.

"The Holy Father intends to address a Pastoral Letter to the faithful of Ireland in which he will clearly indicate the initiatives that are to be taken in response to the situation.

"Finally, His Holiness encourages all those who have dedicated their lives in generous service to children to persevere in their good works in imitation of Christ the Good Shepherd".

OP/MEETING BISHOPS/IRELANDVIS 091211 (340)

Statement of Irish bishops on Dublin Report on abuse of children by priests

St Mary's Pro-cathedral, Dublin

PRESS RELEASE
9 December 2009

Statement from the Winter General Meeting of the Irish Bishops' Conference

The Winter General Meeting of the Irish Bishops’ Conference takes place today and tomorrow, 9 and 10 December 2009, in Maynooth. At the end of the first day, Bishops published the following statement:

“We, as bishops, apologise to all those who were abused by priests as children, their families and to all people who feel rightly outraged and let down by the failure of moral leadership and accountability that emerges from the Report”

The normal business of the General Meeting was suspended. Bishops gave their full attention today to the Commission of Investigation Report into the Archdiocese of Dublin which was published on 26 November last. Bishops said:

We, as bishops, apologise to all those who were abused by priests as children, their families and to all people who feel rightly outraged and let down by the failure of moral leadership and accountability that emerges from the Report.

As an initial response to the Report, we agreed today to request the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church to explore with the relevant Government departments and statutory authorities, North and South, a mechanism by which to ensure that the Church’s current policies and practices in relation to the safeguarding of children represent best practice and that allegations of abuse are properly handled.

We are deeply shocked by the scale and depravity of abuse as described in the Report. We are shamed by the extent to which child sexual abuse was covered up in the Archdiocese of Dublin and recognise that this indicates a culture that was widespread in the Church. The avoidance of scandal, the preservation of the reputations of individuals and of the Church, took precedence over the safety and welfare of children. This should never have happened and must never be allowed to happen again. We humbly ask for forgiveness.

The Report raises very important issues for the Church in Ireland, including the functioning of the Bishops’ Conference, and, how the lay faithful can be more effectively involved in the life of the Church. We will give further detailed consideration to these issues.

In response to the many concerns raised about the use of ‘Mental Reservation’, we wish to categorically state that it has no place in covering up evil. Charity, truthfulness, integrity and transparency must be the hallmark of all our communications.

Cardinal Seán Brady and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin have been called to the Vatican by the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, to enable him “to be briefed and evaluate the painful situation of the Church in Ireland following the recent publication of the Murphy Commission Report.” They will meet with Pope Benedict on Friday.

We humbly ask that you continue to pray for all those who suffer due to child abuse.

ENDS

Further information:

Martin Long, Director of Communications (086 172 7678)
Brenda Drumm, Communications Officer (087 233 7797)

St Patrick's College, Maynooth, Ireland

Apology (?) of papal nuncio to Ireland

Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, Papal Nuncio to Ireland, outside Irish Department of Foreign Affairs yesterday

The Papal Nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, met yesterday with Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin. The meeting was at the request of the latter due to the failure of the nuncio, of his predecessor and of the the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) to reply to letters from the Murphy Commission on the abuse of children by priests in the Archdiocese of Dublin.

Religious Affairs Correspondent Patsy McGarry reports in today's Irish Times:

Following a meeting with Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin in Iveagh House, Archbishop Leanza said: “I express my shock and dismay and certainly I understand the anger of the people and the suffering of those who were abused, so we certainly condemn this . . . If there was any mistake from our side we always apologise for this.”

Dr Leanza stressed there was no intention on the part of the Vatican not to co-operate with the Murphy commission and acknowledged that he himself should have responded to a letter from the commission.

Mr Martin said he had conveyed to the nuncio the Irish public’s “deep anger and outrage” over the Murphy report findings. He also insisted on full co-operation by the church with the ongoing inquiry by the Murphy commission into the handling of clerical child sex abuse allegations in Cloyne diocese.

At least the nuncio acknowledged that he should have replied to the letter sent to him. But his 'if there was any mistake from our side we always apologise for this' comes across to me as a non-apology.

RTÉ, Ireland's national TV and radio service, reports Vatican 'dismayed' at Murphy Report findings and there are links on that page to radio and TV reports. You will find links there to both audio and video reports.

Abusive priests teach, in effect, that Jesus is a child molester

I happened to come across one of the weekly columns that Canadian priest Fr Raymond de Souza (above) writes for the National Post and includes on his own website. This particle column, posted on 29 October, was The Vatican’s man in Canada . He was praising the outgoing nuncio to Canada, Archbishop Luigi Ventura.

What caught my eye was Father de Souza’s clarification of what a nuncio is and isn’t:

The apostolic nuncio is generally thought of as ambassador of one state to another, but that is not quite right. The Vatican City State does not have diplomatic relations with any country. Diplomatic relations are with the Holy See.

What’s the difference? The Holy See is the legal expression of the pope’s role as universal pastor of the Church. States maintain diplomatic relations with the supreme authority of the Catholic Church, which is recognized as a sovereign power in international law.

Mrs Mary O'Rourke TD (member of Irish parliament)

My reading of what Father de Souza wrote is that a nuncio represents the pope as pastor. That means that when the current papal nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, who was appointed on 22 February last year, and his immediate predecessor, Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto, now nuncio to Australia, refused to even reply to letters from the Murphy Commission, set up by the Irish government to look into the sexual abuse of children by priests in the Archdiocese of Dublin, they were, in effect, giving the ‘two fingers’ to these children – in the name of the universal pastor of the Church. Here is what the Dublin Report says about Rome’s refusal to cooperate:

Documents held by Rome

‘2.23 The Commission wrote to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in Rome in September 2006 asking for information on the promulgation of the document Crimen Sollicitationis (see Chapter 4) as well as information on reports of clerical child sexual abuse which had been conveyed to the Congregation by the Archdiocese of Dublin in the period covered by the Commission. The CDF did not reply. However, it did contact the Department of Foreign Affairs stating that the Commission had not gone through appropriate diplomatic channels. The Commission is a body independent of government and does not consider it appropriate for it to use diplomatic channels.

‘2.24 The Commission wrote to the Papal Nuncio in February 2007 requesting that he forward to the Commission all documents in his possession relevant to the Commission's terms of reference, “which documents have not already been produced or will not be produced by Archbishop Martin”. The letter further requested the Papal Nuncio, if he had no such documentation, to confirm this. No reply was received. The Commission does not have the power to compel the production of documents by the Papal Nuncio or the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The Commission again wrote to the Papal Nuncio in 2009 enclosing extracts from the draft report which referred to him and his office as it was required to do. Again, no reply was received.’ (My emphases).

The CDF found time to complain to the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs about protocol but apparently didn’t give a damn about abused children in Dublin.

Irish Foreign Minister Micheál Martin

Last Saturday Paddy Agnew, The Irish Times correspondent in Rome wrote the following:

Last week I rang the Holy See press office looking for an official reaction to the Dublin diocesan report. The Vatican’s senior spokesman, Fr Federico Lombardi, patiently trotted out the standard Holy See line as to how such “matters” were the concern of the local church. The Vatican was aware of the seriousness of the report but did not want to interfere, added the spokesman.

Given that the report continued to greatly exercise and trouble minds in Ireland, I inquired next day if the Holy See had anything to add. This time, Fr Lombardi’s number two, Don Ciro Benedettini, answered the phone.

When he heard my voice, knowing what I would want to ask, Don Ciro began to laugh. It was a friendly, inoffensive laugh of the sort that said, “Come on, Paddy, We have nothing more to say on this matter.”

This to me indicates that the press people in the Vatican are out of touch. The lack of response of the two nuncios – acting officially in the name of Pope Benedict – and of the CDF show utter contempt. Do the two nuncios have the same contempt for Pope Benedict, whom they officially represent, as they do for the Irish people?

Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, Papal Nuncio to Ireland

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin (left) with Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto, previous papal nuncio to Ireland

Last week in the Dáil, the Irish parliament, Mary O’Rourke of the main government party, Fianna Fáil, spoke scathingly of the current nuncio: ‘Consider the discourtesy of the head of the Vatican parading around Ireland in his wonderful glitzy clothes but not replying to letters.’ She reminded me of something our rector, Fr Joe Flynn, one of three brothers who became Columbans and a canon lawyer, said in one of his First Friday talks in St Columban’s College, Dalgan Park, back in the 1960s, ‘If I were pope for half an hour I’d get rid of all those red belly-bands’.

Today, Tuesday, Archbishop Leanza will be visiting the office of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin, to explain why he and his predecessor refused to reply to the Commission. He has been summoned by the minister. (Mr Martin was very much personally involved in the recent successful efforts to obtain the release of kidnapped Irish Columban Fr Michael Sinnott in the Philippines). The nuncio, at his own request, met the secretary general of the Department of Foreign Affairs, last week.

Cardinal Seán Brady, Archbishop of Armagh

Paddy Agnew and Patsy McGarry report in today’s Irish Times that Cardinal Seán Brady of Armagh and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin will meet Pope Benedict to discuss the whole situation. Nuncio Leanza will be there too along with ‘Senior Vatican Curia figures with specific competence in this area’.

The Irish Times report includes this, to me, strange paragraph:

They [‘Vatican insiders’] say Friday’s meeting is a direct intervention from the Holy See, and has been called by an increasingly frustrated Pope Benedict XVI. The sources say the pope will argue the Irish clerical sex-abuse crisis has gone on far too long and will urge Irish church leaders to find a definitive exit from the crisis.

Is this more concern for ‘the good name’ of the [institutional] Church?

Vincent Browne wrote in his column Vatican cannot escape blame in abuse scandal in the Sunday Business Post last Sunday:

One final reflection. This quite proper outrage over the bishops and the cover-ups and the lies disguises a larger phenomenon.The incidence of child sex abuse in Ireland is enormous.

According to that Sexual Abuse and Violence in Ireland (SAVI) report of 2002, around 320,000 people were raped in childhood, and there is little reason to believe the incidence of child rape has diminished.The incidence of child rape among the clergy is certainly greater than among the population at large, but only about 4 per cent of child rapes have been perpetrated by the clergy.

The government shows no interest at all, aside from the odd photo opportunity.

In her column Fighting to implement change in a positive way in last Saturday’s Irish Times in which she commented on the Dublin Report, Breda O’Brien has this throwaway line: Not to mention the discovery last February that 20 children have died in [State] care since 2000 – to which we seem supremely indifferent.

While I find the SVI figure of 320,000 being raped in childhood difficult to believe, I hope that the 20 children who have died in State 'care' in recent years and the 96 percent of children – whatever the actual figure - abused by others rather than by priests or religious will not be forgotten.

But one awful reality is that the priests 'configured to Christ' by their ordination, as Pope John Paul emphasised so strongly in Pastores Dabo Vobis, who abused the four percent in Dublin in effect taught these children that Jesus is a child molester. One, as if to emphasise this, used a crucifix in raping a young girl.

The Church in Ireland and Rome/the Vatican/the Holy See cannot sweep this under the carpet.

Press Release from the Columban Fathers

I am a member of the Missionary Society of St Columban, known as the Columban Fathers. I am posting here the press release from the Regional Director of the Columbans in Ireland, Fr Donal Hogan, after the publication of the Dublin Report.

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE COLUMBAN FATHERS

The Missionary Society of St Columban is shamed by the findings of the Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation.

Shamed because of the trauma, suffering and irreparable damage one of our members, Patrick Maguire, inflicted on his many victims.

Shamed because we failed to act appropriately or in time to prevent much of the harm done.

It is particularly chastening that, as a Society with a history of standing with the poor and the disadvantaged in many cultures, we so continuously failed vulnerable children.

We are continuing with our efforts to reach out to victims. We encourage those in need of independent and confidential advice or help to contact the Faoiseamh counselling service on their confidential help line, freefone 1800-331234 (R.O.I.) and 0800-973272 (Northern Ireland and U.K.)

The laicisation of Patrick Maguire is in process and we expect it will be completed soon.

We apologise to each and every victim as we have done in the past. Each and every one of us is deeply sorry for what he did, for the ongoing suffering he caused and for how badly we managed him.


Fr. Donal Hogan
Regional Director


26 November 2009