A CONTROVERSIAL monk has called on the Irish bishops to designate Sunday, September 27 -- the 30th anniversary of the historic visit to Ireland of the late Pope John Paul II -- a 'day of atonement' for sins of abuse committed by clergy against innocent children.Addressing the Humbert Summer School at the weekend in Ballina, Co Mayo, Fr Iggy O'Donovan noted that celebrations were being planned by the Catholic Church for that day to recall the papal visit.
"Is it not more appropriate that we designate that Sunday as a day of atonement," the Drogheda-based monk asked.
"Surely it would make more sense than engaging in a triumphalist nostalgic exercise commemorating what has turned out to be the last sting of a dying wasp," he said.
Looking back on the religious fervour expressed at mass rallies for the Polish Pontiff in the Phoenix Park, Drogheda, Knock Shrine, Limerick and Galway, he said that at that time they were highlighted as great occasions marking a Catholic revival.
Hysteria
Fr O'Donovan recalled the celebration in Galway where he stood in reverential awe at the Holy Father. "I remember how the crowd was worked up to a near hysteria by the two cheer-leaders on that day, Fr Michael Cleary and Bishop Eamon Casey.
"It was all an illusion. Even then we were a sick and rusty Church desperately needing reform. That did not happen and now we face the new reality of the Ryan report, the Dublin investigation and heaven alone knows what else.
"The day of atonement may not do much for the victims but it might be a small step in the right direction," he said.
Endorsing suggestions for such a day of atonement or reconciliation, Sr Marianne O'Connor, director general of the Conference of Religious of Ireland (Cori), proposed "a service at which a public ritual of reconciliation could take place between representatives of the survivors, the State, the religious and the Church".
But, she cautioned: "Maybe that is a step too far at this time."
Maeve Lewis, chief executive of the One in Four victims' support group, said that while "we have rightly been shocked at the revelations of clerical abuse, it is too easy for the rest of society to point the finger and refuse to acknowledge our own failings".
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