Primate Sean Brady insists the long-awaited report into the
mishandling of child sex abuse allegations by the diocese of Cloyne is
"another dark day" in the history of the Irish Church.
In this, as in so
much else, he is entirely wrong.
Any day on which light is cast on the
obscure, murky workings of the Church is a day of illumination rather
than darkness.
That what it reveals is so utterly vile and contemptible
is another matter altogether.
A previous such occasion, of course,
was when Sean Brady's own involvement in the cover-up of priestly
perversion was revealed in 2009, when the faithful discovered how he
had, 30 years earlier as part of an internal investigation into
allegations against notorious paedophile Fr Brendan Smyth, made children
sign oaths not to tell anyone that they had been abused.
Smyth,
one of the most repulsive characters ever to wear priestly garb, went on
to abuse dozens more innocents before being finally arrested; but even
then, Primate Brady refused to take full responsibility by resigning,
claiming that he was, in effect, only following orders, and that this
was how things were back then.
He also claimed that the current climate
was a "totally different one to that of the past".
It was a line
echoed by Ian Elliott, CEO of the National Board for Safeguarding
Children in the Catholic Church, who also said in 2009 that the progress
towards better procedure had been "truly remarkable" and that there
were now "champions for children" in place who wouldn't let the same
mistakes be made.
"Remarkable" was bad enough, as if now allowing
children not to be abused was some massive achievement, rather than the
absolute minimum anyone could expect from those entrusted with their
care; but it now turns out that these lauded champions weren't up to the
job either.
The report by Judge Yvonne Murphy shows conclusively
that, as late as 2009, the diocese of Cloyne was still not following
proper procedures on the reporting of sex abuse which the Church was
supposed to have adopted 12 years earlier.
In fact, they went further
and deliberately misled the State about what they were doing. Despite
the fact an internal church report in 2003 had found that Cloyne was
putting children in danger by not following up allegations thoroughly,
Bishop John Magee still told the late Brian Lenihan, then minister for
children, that they were fully compliant, when they weren't even
bothering to make private enquiries as to whether accused priests had
targeted other children.
And what is the response to all this?
John Magee has vanished into the mist, maybe America, no one seems to
know -- which is to say that the Vatican surely knows, but they're not
saying either -- and all that's come from him is a statement, issued
through a PR company in Dublin, Young Communications, containing the
usual blether about how sad it all is.
The Archbishop of Cashel and
Emly, for his part, merely said it would be "helpful" if Magee came
forward to answer allegations fully.
It makes a slap on the wrist
look like the Spanish Inquisition in comparison, not to mention a
mockery of the Vatican's promise last year that "civil law concerning
the reporting of crimes ... should always be followed."
Those at
the head of an organisation set its moral tone.
They are the ones to
whom those beneath look for guidance on how to behave.
Practically the
entire hierarchy of the Church in Ireland is made up of people who, in
one form or another, have made excuses for not doing the right thing.
The context changes, but the excuses remain the same. If they can keep
wriggling off the hook, why shouldn't Bishop John Magee, or any of the
others? The only reason why they should act differently now seems to be
because people further up the chain are telling them that they should.
But why should they listen to people who themselves have ignored the
suffering of children when it would have been too difficult for them to
do what was right?
It's like the IRA lecturing the dissidents on why
they should stop blowing up policemen. Take away the political waffle
and what it amounts to is: You shouldn't do it anymore, even though we
did when we were in your place, because it's inconvenient now. It's
about timing, not morality.
Priests and bishops ought to listen,
it could be said, because they're bound by obedience to do whatever the
Church tells them to do. They don't have the right to refuse because to
resist is to defy God. That only makes it all the more revealing that,
12 years after the Church apparently told them to comply with the law of
the land, they were still prepared to ignore their own guidelines.
It
suggests they didn't believe the hierarchy really meant it; that they
were still detecting ambivalence; they were still getting a nod and a
wink that what they were up to was not that serious. Indeed that's what
the report into the cesspit that was the diocese of Cloyne under Bishop
Magee finds to be the case.
Silence was officially sanctioned by the
Vatican at the time when they were insisting publicly that all had
changed, changed utterly, that a nice new Church had taken the place of
the old one.
Nor has anything said last week exactly reassured the
sceptics, even now, that the Church quite "gets" what all the fuss is
about.
Instead, they're still arguing the toss about whether abuse
revealed in the confessional should be covered by the requirement to
report crimes to the police.
The Government has been bracingly
unwavering about this; but that the hierarchy is still prepared to
engage in theological point-scoring about sacredotal privilege, and to
warn that the Government risks "antagonising relationships" if they
insist that priests have the same obligation as every other Irish
citizen to come forward when they know that children are being abused,
is not only disappointing, but frightening.
It seems to suggest that
it's not a National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic
Church that we need, but a National Board for Safeguarding Children from
the Catholic Church.
They've had ample opportunities to set their
own house in order.
Too many, perhaps.
They failed the test every time,
preferring always to run away and hide behind lawyers and PR companies
and each other, issuing one sophistical press release after another
about the difficulties of doing the right thing, and meanwhile pumping
out Lord Haw Haw-style propaganda suggesting that the institutions under
attack are nowhere near as black as they're painted.
Well, that part's
true enough.
They're far blacker.