THE APOSTOLIC visitor to Dublin’s Catholic archdiocese Cardinal Seán
O’Malley said Sunday that he and his team “look forward to meeting
with as many as possible from the victims themselves, the bishops, the
priests and religious and the laity of the archdiocese, knowing that the
crisis of the sexual abuse of minors has profound repercussions in the
life of the entire community”.
Speaking in Dublin’s pro-cathedral
at the 11am Mass, the cardinal, who is archbishop of Boston, said,
“because the viewpoint of the clergy and laity are so crucial, I have
asked Ms Barbara Thorp, Fr John Connolly and Mr Thomas Hannigan to
accompany me and assist in this visitation. They have been invaluable
collaborators in Boston, and I am certain their experience will be very
helpful to me during this visitation.”
Anyone wishing “to share
their testimony can contact me through the apostolic nunciature here in
Dublin, to request an appointment, or submit their thoughts in written
form, also through the nunciature,” he said.
The cardinal will be in
Dublin until Friday.
Then cardinals from around the world will meet in
Rome to address issues raised by the Anglicanorum Coetibus, set up to
accommodate disaffected Anglican clergy, as well as clerical abuse, and
the pope’s 10-year-old Dominus Iesus document.
“I shall return early
next year to continue this important work. Please pray that this
visitation will be helpful to the people of Ireland, will advance the
safety of children in society as a whole and promote the healing and
reconciliation that we all desire,” he said.
“The Holy Father
envisions this as a pastoral visit to assist the church here on the path
to renewal,” he said.
He and his team were “here to be available to
meet with some of those who have been harmed by abuse and wish to meet
with us. We will attempt to communicate to them the apologies of a
contrite church and the pastoral solicitude of the Holy Father.
“Likewise, we will try to assess how well the guidelines of Safeguarding Children, produced by the national board, are working.”
He
noted that “in Dublin much has been done already to address the crimes
of the past and to develop sound policies to ensure the safety of
children and to provide assistance to the victims of child abuse. The
task of the visitation is to bring new eyes to the situation, to verify
the effectiveness of the present processes used in responding to cases
of abuse. We are not here
to reduplicate investigations or studies of
the past.”
He recalled his first visit to the pro-cathedral was in
1963 and coincided with the visit of President John F Kennedy.
“My
family left these shores for America in the difficult decades after the
Famine, the Reidys from Co Clare and the O’Malleys from Mayo . . . The
only vestiges of that journey that our family still treasures are a
two-volume History of Ireland by the Abbé MacGeoghegan and a beautiful
statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus . . .
“What they did not leave
behind was their Catholic faith and their great love for Ireland. I was
raised with both. And it is with that same love for the Irish people
that I come to this visitation. I have come to listen, not to offer a
quick fix. I come to listen to your pain, your anger, but also your
hopes and aspirations.”
Welcoming the cardinal and his team,
Archbishop Martin said “the archdiocese of Dublin today is wounded by
sinful and criminal acts of priests who betrayed the trust of vulnerable
young children”.
People had “lost their trust in the church. For many
young people the recent scandals have become the final element in their
alienation.”
It called for a “renewal” and “recognition of what was done
wrong in the past – particularly to the weakest”.
SIC: IT/IE