Sunday, January 10, 2010

Bishop criticised for failing to answer victims

BISHOP OF Galway Martin Drennan has been criticised by abuse victim Andrew Madden for not responding to a request from him to meet people from Dublin’s Catholic archdiocese who were sexually abused by priests there.

Bishop Drennan was an auxiliary bishop of Dublin from 1997 to 2005. Mr Madden also accused the bishop of “arrogance” and of “being out of touch with reality” because of his refusal to answer any further questions on the Murphy report.

Meanwhile, moral theologian Fr Seán Fagan has said “it is not enough for Church leaders who discussed these problems in their monthly meetings for years to claim that they were not criticised by the Murphy report.”

He said: “God’s holy people who ARE the Catholic church find it hard to understand how they could preach the Gospel throughout their lives and never have the courage to say no to this massive collective blindness.”

Speaking last night Andrew Madden said of Bishop Drennan: “It is a measure of the man that he will meet priests in his diocese but has yet to respond to my invitation to him to meet Dublin victims of abuse. I e-mailed him on December 27th about such a meeting and he has not even responded.”

In a statement to the media on December 27th last, Mr Madden said: “Bishop Drennan advises against anger and adds insult to injury when he describes our calls for accountability as vengeful.

“He says he met with 60 priests from the Diocese of Galway and seems to enjoy their full support. I have today e-mailed the bishop and asked him to formally invite 60 victims of sexual abuse by priests in Dublin to come and meet him in Galway . . .”

Should Bishop Drennan remain on, Mr Madden said that it was his intention to make representations to the Government, when calling on it to extend the remit of the Murphy commission to other Catholic dioceses in Ireland, that it abandon the representative sample method.

Instead all allegations of abuse should be examined, he said. In employing the representative sample method in Dublin, the Murphy commission was attempting to establish the systems, structures and practices in the archdiocese which facilitated the abuse of children, he said.

“It did that, and anyone who had a leading role in the archdiocese at the time should resign,” he said. “It is not appropriate that a bishop should hide behind the words of the report, depending on the extent of criticisms in the report. All attempted it and four failed. It was not looking at what individuals did. It was looking at systems, a culture, practices.”

Bishop Drennan’s remaining on in office “is an insult to survivors and will have implications” for future inquiries, he said.

Mr Madden also criticised Fr Vincent Twomey, retired professor of moral theology at St Patrick’s College Maynooth, for changing his stance on Bishop Drennan, now saying that calls for the bishop’s resignation were “unfounded.” He called on Fr Twomey to debate the matter.

Speaking to The Irish Times, Fr Seán Fagan said: “What saddens me is that I have met very few people, especially clerics, who have bothered to consult these very important documents .”

Arguing that “all dioceses should be examined” by the State, he said the Catholic Church in Ireland should begin “with the three As approach.”

These were “Admit, Accept, Adjust: don’t hide or cover up . . . don’t look for excuses . . . and adjust to the situation with appropriate remedies.”

“Sorry is not enough, no matter how sincere,” he said.
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