Speaking at an international conference on restorative justice in
relation to clerical sex abuse, the Archbishop of Dublin has said that
the Church must become a restorative community for all.
In a frank and humble address, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin told his
own experience of becoming Archbishop of Ireland’s most populous
diocese, and coming into contact with the horror of child sex abuse by
clergy and the disastrous way the Church had handled it.
“The Archdiocese of Dublin got it spectacularly wrong,” he told the international gathering at Marquette University, Milwaukee.
He recalled the first complaint about a priest’s behaviour that
landed on his desk. On the top of the file was a yellow page saying,
“Inspected regarding CSA - Nothing found.”
However the very next
document was an internal note, “Father X seems to be back to his old
activities.”
“Clearly there was knowledge of ‘old activities’ but no clear
understanding that these activities indicated an on-going serious
pattern of grooming which should clearly have raised red flags.”
The Murphy investigation revealed that in the period between 1940 and
2010 allegations or suspicions of sexual abuse were made against over
90 priests of the Archdiocese and against 60 religious priests who held
diocesan appointments.
Of these, Archbishop Martin estimated that about
ten were “serial paedophiles.”
Twelve priests have been convicted of
criminal offences.
Reading the Murphy Report, the archbishop’s dominant emotion was
anger.
“Anger at what was done to children; anger at the grief of
parents who live still today with feelings of guilt and bewilderment;
anger at the fact that the Church failed its weakest; anger at those who
still seem to be in denial.”
All institutions have an innate tendency to protect themselves and to hide their dirty laundry, said Dr Martin.
“We have to learn that the truth has a power to set free which half-truths do not have.”
He went on, “The first condition for restorative justice is that all
parties are willing to tell the truth and to take ownership of the
truth, even when the truth is unpleasant.”
Restorative justice was not
cheap justice, without the recognition of wrongdoing and without putting
the balance right. The lost child, the molested child had to be at the
centre.
“In the case of serial sexual offenders restorative justice is not
about restoration to ministry.
There can be admission of guilt on the
part of the offender and even expression of forgiveness on the part of a
victim, but the Bishop has to establish a balance between the need to
rehabilitate offenders and the duty to protect children.”
Archbishop Martin spoke of the lack of real remorse that he saw in most clerical sex offenders, “with perhaps two exceptions.”
However, offenders could not be simply abandoned.
On release from
prison, the Church still had a responsibility to priests, even if they
were laicised, firstly to ensure that they were no risk to children.
“The primary responsibility here should be of public authorities and
regrettably the legislative framework in the Republic of Ireland still
leaves a great deal to be desired in this regard. There are a number of
laicised priest offenders living in Dublin – some who were incardinated
in United States dioceses and barely known to us – who are still in
total denial of their wrong-doing and who must be therefore considered
high risk and yet are not even on a sex-offenders list,” he said.
Currently the Archdiocese of Dublin has a specific member of its
Child Safeguarding team who carries out the work the work of monitoring
offenders and a small committee supports him.
Addressing the question of what “restorative justice” means for
victims, he said promises must be kept, deadlines and established norms
respected.
“To victims, any attempt at covering-up or backtracking on
norms signifies betrayal.”
“For restorative justice to work in a Church environment then the
Church becomes a restorative community – a restorative community for
all.”
Finally, he called for a formation regime for priests that would
foster “rounded human beings.”
He recommended they spend part of their
formation period together with lay people so that they can establish
mature relationships with men and women.
The conference, called Harm, Hope, and Healing: International Dialogue on the Clergy Sex Abuse Scandal,
took place on the April 4 and 5 and featured the stories of survivors
of abuse, and panellists from Australia, Ireland and the US, including
representatives from the Boston Archdiocese where a sex abuse scandal
broke almost a decade ago.