ARCHBISHOP Diarmuid Martin
of Dublin has rebuked those in the Catholic Church who were "all too
slow" in recognising the extent of the "criminal abuse of children" by
priests.
He was speaking at a Mass to mark the 10th anniversary of the
establishment of the Child Safeguarding and Protection Office in the
archdiocese of Dublin.
SURVIVORS
At a
ceremony in the Pro-Cathedral attended by 400 child safeguarding
representatives from parishes across Dublin, as well as priests and
representatives of survivors of abuse, Dr Martin said the church needed
to do more to reach out to survivors of clerical abuse.
The
Archbishop urged the church to create "an open door and a safe space for
those survivors who still fear telling their story and who still live
alone with their anguish".
Speaking to the Irish Independent, the
Archbishop explained that from his meetings with survivors, he realised
that some of them "are in a lonely place".
"Very often they have
nobody to talk to – they are not a member of an association. They were
abused in a way that the pressure was put on them to keep it secret."
He said they would like to have a space where they could come together, meet one another and support one another.
During the Mass, prayers were said for those victims of abuse who could not cope and had died by suicide.
The church hasn't sent out "a sufficient word of welcome to those who have been abused", Dr Martin added.
He also had strong words of criticism for those who sought to protect the institution and failed the church's children.
"People were angered by the church's response. The institution in protecting its own, failed those children," he said.
In
further comments he warned: "We give thanks for the work achieved by
all those associated with the Diocesan Child Safeguarding and Protection
Office. But that work is not over. The sexual abuse of children
continues in our world.
PREDATORS
"Sexual
predators will seek out our weak points and break through the weaknesses
of our systems. We cannot afford to let our guard down."
Survivor
of abuse, Marie Collins, told the Irish Independent the
child-protection service in Dublin diocese had "good strong child
protection measures in place" but added "there is still a lot of work to
be done – we can always make sure it is safer".