Leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland Cardinal Sean Brady has said the deal to compensate the victims of sex abuse in residential institutions run by religious orders should be revisited. Speaking in Maynooth, where senior bishops are meeting to consider their response to the report of the Commission on Child Abuse, Cardinal Brady said any new deal should bear in mind the needs of victims.
He said the issues at present in Ireland would be discussed with Pope Benedict.
Cardinal Brady said it is important the Pope knows what the situation in Ireland is and that such a meeting takes place.
Earlier, the Archbishop of Dublin called on religious orders, cited in the Ryan Report, to pay their agreed contribution to the State scheme which compensates victims of abuse.
In an interview with The Irish Times, Dr Diarmuid Martin described as 'stunning' their failure, seven years on, to have paid the agreed €128m contribution.
He said legal difficulties were really a poor excuse for not having done this.
The Archbishop urged the 18 orders to invest substantially in supporting survivors and their families.
Dr Martin observed that, in many ways, this was the last chance for these orders to render honour to their charismatic founders and to their own many good members who felt tarnished.
Dr Martin has said any criminal matters arising out of the Ryan report should be pursued by gardaí.
He said criminal responsibility must be investigated and that any activity considered criminal should be referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Dr Martin said congregations must come forward and explain how they intend dealing with recognition and admission of what happened.
The Archbishop said a lack of supervision and a culture of denial are two major issues which the congregations involved suffered from, both of which must be overcome.
The Government is to hold a special meeting this week to discuss the fall-out from the Child Abuse Commission report.
It will also be discussing whether the Catholic Church should contribute more to compensation funds for the victims of institutional abuse.
Yesterday, Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan said the Church should pay more.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen has said the Government will be getting legal advice from the Attorney General, but stressed it may not have the legal capacity to compel the religious orders to pay more if they do not volunteer to do so.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to us or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that we agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Source (RTÉ)
SV (3)