Statement by Cardinal Seán Brady in response to the Cloyne Report
Drumcree Pastoral Centre, Portadown
The publication of the Report of the Commission of Inquiry into Child
Safeguarding in the diocese of Cloyne represents another dark day in
the history of the response of Church leaders to the cry of children
abused by Church personnel.
I welcome this Report.
Earlier today,
Archbishop Dermot Clifford apologised to the survivors of abuse and
their families, to the people of the diocese of Cloyne and to the wider
Church.
I apologise and sexpress my shame and sorrow at what has
happened.
Especially during these days I ask that we remember, in our thoughts
and prayers, all those who have suffered, and continue to suffer, as a
result of abuse.
For those who are suffering the Church provides
professional support and the recently established Towards Healing
service is available to assist survivors.
The findings of this Report confirm that grave errors of judgement
were made and serious failures of leadership occurred. This is
deplorable and totally unacceptable.
These serious failures were first investigated by the National Board
for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church whose report was
published in December 2008.
I commend the National Board for its
determination to fulfil the mandate given to it of devising and
overseeing the implementation of best practice in safeguarding children
throughout the Church. One positive aspect to come out of Judge Murphy’s
Report is the confirmation that the Church-established structures of
review and accountability have been proven to work effectively.
The current Church environment for children is a totally different
one to that of the past. As was publicly reported by the National Board
on 11 May last:
- it has been advised that all allegations of abuse have been reported to the statutory authorities, North and South;
- all dioceses have safeguarding personnel in each of the 1,386 parishes on the island;
- thousands of volunteers inIrelandhave undergone training in order to fulfil their safeguarding roles throughout the Church;
- in addition, the National Board has provided training to 52 groups on various aspects of safeguarding guidelines;
- priority has been given to the ongoing programme of audit of dioceses and religious congregations. As stated by the Board last week, audits of three dioceses have been completed and three further diocesan audits will be completed by the end of the month.
The Commission of Inquiry states that in all my dealings with Bishop
Magee, my overriding objective was to ensure that safeguarding practice
in Cloyne be prioritised and implemented and that Bishop Magee should be
available fully to assist the Commission of Inquiry led by Judge
Murphy.
It was my view, from an early stage, that an Apostolic Administrator
be appointed to administer the diocese while Bishop Magee remained
available to assist the Commission of Inquiry in its work.
Today’s Report highlights again the necessity for continuing
vigilance and full cooperation with the civil authorities, and the
National Board, in the critical area of safeguarding children. I call
today for the introduction of legislation to support mandatory reporting
of allegations of child sexual abuse to the statutory authorities.
I welcome the statement last week by the National Board that the
resolution of the data protection issues earlier this year has cleared
the way for the continuation of the audits of individual dioceses.
The
Church’s full commitment to this partnership is a guarantee of best
practice in child safeguarding.
ENDS
Notes for Editors
Towards Healing Helpline
Towards Healing is an organisation which provides telephone
counselling and a counselling and psychotherapy referral service for
people who have suffered physical, emotional or sexual abuse when they
were children by persons working for the Catholic Church in Ireland–
From the Republic of Ireland: 1800 303 416
From Northern Ireland: 0800 096 3315
Further information:
Catholic Communications Office Maynooth:
Martin Long 00353 (0) 86 172 7678
and
Brenda Drumm 00353 (0) 87 310 4444