THE Dublin archdiocese, the Catholic Church and its institutions must repent for the "heinous crime" of sexual abuse of children, Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin said yesterday in a wide ranging address at a Mass in St Mary's Pro-Cathedral to mark the feast day of St Laurence O'Toole.Dr Martin said the diocese must repent for the failings of its members who betrayed their mission of shepherd.
"Shepherds have failed through a sheer lukewarmness, through negligence, through lack of commitment to Jesus and His message.
"The abuse of children is a heinous crime, especially when it was perpetrated by those entrusted with the mission of the Good Shepherd."
He said the Church and its institutions must repent, but that this must result in a renewal -- and a renewal which may not produce conformity and symbioses with the thought patterns of the day, which would lead to a counter-cultural Church.
Meanwhile, Masses in the Dublin diocese are to be "rationalised" -- or cut -- because there are not enough priests for its 199 parishes, he said.
The archbishop also said there are many changes facing the archdiocese. "The average age of priests is growing. "We have 46 priests over 80 and only two less then 35.
"In a very short time we will just have the bare number of priests required to have one active priest for each of our 199 parishes," Dr Martin said.
He said this would require very different ways in which priests will have to exercise their ministry and interact with each other, and the future would require different structures and different planning.
"Parishes will have to work more closely with each other and share facilities. The number of Masses will have to be rationalised. Some of these changes will cause pain."
Meanwhile, to mark Armistice Day, a Book of Honour containing the names of Dublin soldiers who were killed in World War I was on display in the Pro-Cathedral on Dublin's Marlborough St.
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