THEY are the foot soldiers — the men who are always expected to come running if someone is seriously ill or dying in the middle of the night. For many non-church goers, they are still the people they call upon to officiate at weddings or preside over a funeral.
Once holding vaunted positions in the community and country, they have seen their vocation, Church and faith come under siege in recent years due to child sex abuse cover-ups and the emergence of a more liberal and secular Ireland where contraception, homosexuality and sex outside marriage are accepted and even championed.
Talking to the priests in Cloyne in recent days, you can hear their personal hurt. Many admit they have had angry parishioners in the sacristy after Mass. Others are angry “that we are going through all this again”. Large numbers of the priests regard press criticism of Bishop Magee as “attacks on the Church”.
There is little talk of sex abuse victims. To this particular cohort, press coverage of Bishop Magee’s mishandling of child sex abuse complaints is a “witch hunt”. They are hurting for their bishop.
Several of the priests we spoke to were openly hesitant to make their opinions known, despite being guaranteed confidentiality. One priest said he’d be “run out of the parish” for expressing his opinion, adding later “he [Bishop Magee] should have gone when the first report was published”. This opinion, however, was in a distinct minority.
Numerous priests described Bishop Magee as “a fine man... a good bishop”.
One priest said: “I’m not sure having surveys like this serve any purpose. There’s been a lot of hype around this, but we have one of the best bishops in the country here and have done since the start. Why should he leave? The man acknowledged that he wants to see better protection.”
This clergy has chewed on this issue, with a wide range of conclusions met, such as: “This issue is so intricate. There is nothing black and white” or “He didn’t know what he was doing” or “This is trial by media. None of those complaints have been proven”.
Many used the symbolism of the bible.
“He is an innocent man crucified” said one, while another said, “He should not go. Everybody has their problems and their cross to bear.”
Others accused the Irish Examiner of trying to “bring down the Church”. “I am very upset at the whole affair. He has my sympathy. There is such evil happening in the world with murders and killing. We shouldn’t be attacking the Church. Kicking the Church around is not the best approach.”
It would be ill-considered to say that the 20% of priests who refused to comment on the issue were afraid to denounce their bishop. Many didn’t want to open their minds to the media and some were certainly suspicious of our intentions.
One priest made it pretty clear: “Obviously, I have strong views but I have informed my parishioners of these and I do not want to play this issue out in the media any further.”
Another put it more succinctly: “No comment. He’s the bishop at the moment.” +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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Sotto Voce
(Source: IE)