Friday, October 08, 2010

Survivor willing to meet Vatican investigators

A prominent survivor of clerical abuse has said she would be willing to meet the Cardinal who Pope Benedict XVI has appointed to investigate the handling of scandals in the Archdiocese of Dublin.

The Vatican announced last night that senior churchmen would meet victims and their families during the module of the Apostolic Visitation focusing on a number of dioceses.

Marie Collins, who was abused as a child by a priest of the Dublin Archdiocese, said she would meet Cardinal Seán O'Malley of Boston if she was invited to.

Another abuse survivor Andrew Madden said he has no intention of meeting any bishops as it is 'self-serving window dressing nonsense'.

Ms Collins criticised the overwhelming majority of Irish bishops for failing to hold official listening sessions with victims of their own diocesan clergy.

She said the exception was Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, who, following public protests, met a group of Dublin victims before the hierarchy met Pope Benedict in February
 
Ms Collins met Cardinal Seán Brady in late March, but she has heard nothing since from the hierarchy despite a promise from their facilitator to include her in any follow-up meetings.

SIC: RTÉ/IE