The idea of priests paying towards financial shortfalls caused by compensating victims of abuse is ''just a small part'' of what must be done to renew the Church in Ireland, a priest has said.
Fr Paddy Byrne of Bagenalstown, Co. Carlow, called on clergy to ''come together'' towards healing the Church's reputation, possibly through a penitential act, which, he pointed out, had been met with great support from laity when carried out by smaller groups of priests.
Fr Paddy was speaking on national radio in response to revelations that priests in the Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly have been asked to donate €60 per month towards helping with ''debts incurred'' from abuse cases.
''There is a fundamental task at hand,'' Fr Byrne stressed, ''not just about paying, but about renewal of the Church and trying to rebuild trust. A lot of work needs to be done to regain confidence.''
He went on to stress that an important element of this would be ''leadership which must be radical''.