Ms Collins is the only victim who came forward at the international symposium held at the Pontifical Gregorian University from 6 to 9 February on the theme of sexual abuse by the clergy.
Now she is raising her voice as a spokesman for victims in Ireland against Irish bishops, stressing that the onus should be on the bishops to make amends, not parishioners.
Ms Collins accused bishops of failing to show humility in the context of the paedophilia scandal in the Irish Church.
Following the apostolic visit which Benedict XVI called for, in order to adequately deal with the scandal that prompted the resignations of a number of Ireland’s bishops, the Irish Episcopal Conference made the “protection of new generations” a priority.
Indeed, this was the commitment pledged (following the example of the U.S. Church which purposely sent Cardinals Sean O’Malley and Timothy Dolan as apostolic visitors) by Irish bishops in the last plenary assembly.
A communiqué on the issue highlighted the “breadth of the child protection work undertaken by the National Council.”
The document points out that the Council’s Chairman John Morgan and the director of safeguarding Teresa Devlin work alongside bishops and superiors of religious congregations.
According to the plans presented by the entity, by mid-summer the process for the revision of child safety regulations in religious structures should be complete.
Another item that was discussed, were the preparations for the 50th international Eucharistic Congress that will be held in the Country from 10 to 17 June. There will be delegations from 95 Countries, with numerous representatives from Canada, where the event was held in 2008.
The Irish Episcopal Conference has appealed to faithful to “pray intensely to make reparation for the sins of abuse that have done so much harm." But Marie Collins retorted that “the people do not need to atone.”
The victims of paedophile priests, he added, "It's the bishops that survivors would want to see making reparation or atonement, humbling themselves in some way."
"It's insulting to think they're expecting people to come out. The ordinary people are waiting to see them do something," she said.
Another spokesman for abuse victims, Andrew Madden, found it shocking that representatives of the ecclesiastical hierarchies who were involved in the cover-up of paedophilia cases do not feel it is their moral duty to resign from their posts.
“I don't think they have any credibility speaking about victims or speaking about child protection," he stressed.
Maeve Lewis, from the support group “One in Four”, has accused the Irish bishops of not adequately ensuring that victims of sex abuse by clerics received compensation.
Benedict XVI’s "zero tolerance" rule came down like a ton of bricks on bishops who had concealed cases of abuse against minors and covered up for paedophile priests.
Last summer, the scandalous news broke out about Benedict XVI allegedly being on the verge of expelling all Irish bishops in order to rebuild the church from scratch and restore its credibility.
This did not happen; and the fact that many dioceses are still without a new bishop shows this.
Benedict XVI’s zero tolerance rule came down like a ton of bricks on bishops who had concealed cases of abuse against minors and covered up for paedophile priests.
Last summer, the scandalous news broke out about Benedict XVI allegedly being on the verge of expelling all Irish bishops in order to rebuild the church from scratch and restore its credibility. This did not happen; and the fact that many dioceses are still without a new bishop shows this.
The Holy See’s daily broadsheet L’Osservatore Romano offers an explanation of the causes of this serious phenomenon and the direction taken by the Holy See with regards to sexual violence. Referring to the number of minors sexually abused by clerics, the Vatican’s newspaper stressed that “most of the cases occurred some decades ago.”
At the time, L’Osservatore Romano writes, referring in particular to the 60’s and 70’s, social influences worsened the vulnerable state of some priests, whose preparation was inadequate for a life to be spent in accordance with the vow of celibacy."
Those candidates to the priesthood, which later became abusers, "certainly could not have been identified early on through psychological tests or by examination of their cultural development, nor by analysing their vocational experiences."
Instead, "the growth of the level of human formation occurred over the years spent in the seminary - to make young people more aware of the authenticity of their vocation in the priesthood - was the major cause of the decrease in the number of acts of sexual abuse against children by men."
The Irish Church is still being marred by scandals which are often dealt with too late and inadequately by the Country’s ecclesiastical leaders.
Last October, the Irish government thanked the Vatican for its response to the Cloyne Report but held tight to its criticisms of a letter the Holy See sent in 1997 which “gave priests a pretext to cover up sex abuse accusations.”
The Cloyne Report (400 pages of disturbing documents) was published last July.
It states, amongst other things, that Mgr. John Magee, who had been secretary to three popes and then a bishop in Ireland (he presented his resignation in 2010), ignored the child protection directives established by the Irish Episcopal Conference in 1996 and failed to report to the police at least 9 out of 15 cases of sexual abuse, which occurred during that period.