So it’s goodbye to Ian Elliott.
Some in the
Catholic Church in Ireland clearly have felt it has been less than good
to know him.
Then maybe it’s just the beginning of a longer farewell
involving the chief executive of the church’s child protection
“watchdog-with-a-helluva- bite” and the authorities in Maynooth.
He may yet be employed on a consultancy basis as the review process in the church’s 162 institutions goes on.
It is doubtful whether the Catholic Church on
this island has ever owed as much to a Presbyterian where restoring its
credibility is concerned.
Yesterday’s “gratifying” reports on current
child protection practices in six dioceses and one religious
congregation would hardly have been possible without his doggedness. He
has played a hugely significant role in making Catholic parishes in
Ireland today among the safest places for children.
With hindsight it would appear that when church authorities
headhunted him in 2007 to be chief executive of the new National Board
for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland, to give it
its full name, they had not bargained on what they got.
His track record in Northern Ireland, whether
with the NSPCC or the DHSS, would have offered plenty of evidence.
And
in Maynooth he was not for turning. One Catholic bishop is said to have
complained that “Ian Elliott just doesn’t understand us.”
Mr Elliott was
not alone.
His determination became clear in December 2008
when his report on “inadequate and in some respects dangerous” child
protection practices in Cloyne diocese was published. It led to the
resignation of Bishop John Magee and the extension of the Murphy
Commission’s remit to include Cloyne diocese.
In March 2010 he spoke publicly of the
“hostility” he experienced from bishops and others “who create
difficulties” as he attempted to implement uniform child protection
guidelines in the church.
In November 2011 Bishop of Derry Seamus Hegarty stood down prior to publication of the NBSC report.
Last year Mr Elliott was cleared of an
accusation by Bishop of Down and Connor Noel Traenor that he had been
spinning against church leadership in off-the-record briefings with
journalists.
It followed an internal inquiry by former Supreme Court
judge Mrs Justice Catherine McGuinness. The bishop apologised.
Yesterday’s reports were further proof that,
where child protection is concerned, the Catholic Church in Ireland has
finally “got it”.
There could be no finer tribute to Mr Elliott.