In the area of child protection the church in Ireland
can rightly be proud of what has been achieved over the past 10 years. But more needs to be done, the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has said.
“But the work is not over. The
sexual abuse of children continues in our society. Sexual predators will
seek out our weak points and break through the weaknesses of our
systems. We cannot afford to let our guard down,” he said.
Speaking
at All Hallows College in Dublin last night he continued “if there is
one area where I know we need to do more, it is that of reaching out to
survivors, beyond the great work of Towards Healing, to create an open
door and a safe space for those survivors who have still fear telling
their story and who still live alone with their anguish.”
He said the past 10 years had seen a real
change of culture where safeguarding children in Dublin was concerned.
“But Dublin is not an isolated diocese. That cultural change is repeated
right across the country in the work of Diocesan Child Safeguarding
Offices and in the vital work of the National Board for Safeguarding
Children,” he said.
Leadership
The archbishop was speaking at a ceremony where he had been awarded the 2013 Vincentian Charism Award as “his direction and leadership of this seismic crisis within the Catholic Church in Ireland has given confidence to Catholics and others and enabled the church to envisage and create a new future in Ireland.”
Previous recipients of the Award included Dr Martin McAleese for his work on the Magdalene laundries.
Archbishop Martin
said that, while he was very honoured to receive the award, he was
“wary of awards” as “at times they end up putting too much attention on
the ‘awardee’ and not enough attention on the good things that have been
achieved.”