A PARISH priest has blamed paedophile clerics and how they were
handled by the church authorities for doing more damage than secularism
to the Catholic Church in Ireland.
Fr John Walsh said that while
secularism “undermines” religious ministry, the worst attacks to the
church came from inside the church itself.
“The church can come under attack from outside. In our own times, secularism undermines the church’s mission,” said Fr Walsh.
“But
the most insidious attacks against the church come from inside itself.
For the last several decades we have seen the damage that has been done
to the church in Ireland by paedophile members, particularly priests and
religious, and by the way church authorities in Ireland have dealt with
them.”
Fr Walsh, the parish priest of Buncrana, Co Donegal, was
speaking during an open-air Mass to mark the 300th anniversary of the
death of Catholic martyr Fr James Hegarty, beheaded in 1711 by the
British army.
The friar, parish priest of the locality, was
betrayed by his sister’s husband and their two sons, who got £50 for
being informants.
Fr Walsh told the anniversary congregation: “In
2011, we are called to be faithful disciples of Our Lord and to bring
much-needed enthusiasm and idealism to the rebuilding and renewal of our
beloved church.
“Like Fr Hegarty, we must not flinch. We must
hold fast to our beliefs and our practices, no matter how severe the
onslaughts, no matter how deep the self-inflicted wounds.”
The
Mass was held on Sunday at Fr Hegarty’s Rock, located on a shore walk
about 2km from Buncrana. Principal concelebrant was the Bishop of Derry,
Dr Seamus Hegarty.
Fr Walsh called on parishioners to resolve to
“build up our domestic church” by improving personal relationships with
loved ones, including “our partners, our parents, our children, our
siblings, our relatives, our neighbours”.
He also urged people to fight alcohol abuse, as the martyred priest did in the 18th century.
“Fr
Hegarty and his colleagues fought against drink abuse. We, too, have a
need so to do. Drink and drug abuse have a grip on our society.
“Let us live our own lives soberly and let us encourage those who follow close behind us to do the same,” added Fr Walsh.