The long-awaited Murphy Commission Report which investigated how the state and the archdiocese of Dublin handled child abuse by priests from 1974 to 2004 has just been released... and the results are damning. Here are some of the findings (as reported by the Irish Times):
All archbishops and many of the auxiliary bishops in Dublin handled child sexual abuse complaints badly. None of the four archbishops reported their knowledge of abuse to gardaí [the police] “throughout the 1960s, 1970s or 1980s”.
Church authorities used the concept of “mental reservation”, which allows senior clergy to mislead people without being guilty, in the church’s eyes, of lying.
Senior members of the gardaí (the Irish police) regarded priests as outside their remit, with some members reporting complaints to the archdiocese instead of investigating them.
It said there were some courageous priests who brought complaints to the attention of their superiors. But in general there was a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
The report states the archdiocese demonstrated an “obsessive concern with secrecy and the avoidance of scandal,” while showing “little or no concern for the welfare of the abused child.”
"The Dublin Archdiocese's pre-occupations in dealing with cases of child sexual abuse, at least until the mid-1990s, were the maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the Church, and the preservation of its assets."
The report focused on a representitive sample of 46 pedophile priests. One admitted abusing more than 100 children. Another stated that he committed such abuses every two weeks for over 25 years.
Evidence was kept inside a secret vault in the archbishop's Dublin residence, with suspect clerics moved between parishes to prevent the allegations being made public.On the archdiocese website, Diarmuid Martin, the current archbishop of Dublin said, "It is difficult to find words to describe how I feel today."
"What can I say," he continued, "when I have to share with you the revolting story of the sexual assault and rape of so many young children and teenagers by priests of the archdiocese or who ministered in the diocese?"
"No words of apology will ever be sufficient."
The Church in Ireland has been rocked by scandal for a long time now. Another government report issued in May disclosed the wide extent of floggings, slave labor and gang-rapes that occured in the now-defunct, church-run system of industrial and reform schools for children.
Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern expressed regret that the police authorities had not pursued some allegations of abuse appropriately in the past and promised the future would be different.
"The bottom line is this," he said. "a collar will protect no criminal."
Photo Credit:
1) Archbishop Diarmuid Martin (from the Irish Times)
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Comments
Is there any country where Catholic priests have not abused, raped, and molested young children? Is there any country where the Catholic church (as an institution) has done anything but protect the priests and put them into new parishes (with new children for them to prey upon)?
The rapes and molestations and child torture by priests is disgusting. But an even greater blame must go to the institution (the Catholic church) that repeatedly knew what was going on yet protected the child rapists instead of protecting the innocent children who were victims.
How does the Catholic church still have the outrageous audacity to try to tell the world that they should be the moral guidepost for humanity?
The Catholic Church is almost certainly guilty of more widespread molestation/rape of children than any other institution, in terms of the number of decades they have been doing this, and the worldwide scope of their disgusting reach.
If you give money to the church you support chi
(continued posting)
If you give money to the Catholic church then your money helps support child rape.
If you give money to the church, some of your money helps to defend the church's massive wealth against any loss related to children raped by Catholic priests, who were empowered to do so by the Catholic church as an institution.
If you want to give money to the poor, the hungry, the disabled, etc., you should do so by giving to a charity that does not have such a track record of such widespread child molestation (pretty much any charity/group/cause will be better than the church in this regard).
If there is really such a person/thing as Satan, it seems that he has been running the Catholic church for quite some time now.
You are right,Peter, it's not only the RC Church in Ireland which is guilty of this. They seemed to keep the best records, though!
The day when any church can supress crimes is slowly coming to an end, and the victims who have been brave enough to come out with their abuses despite believing -- knowing - that they will suffer yet again by doing so deserve our thanks and admiration.
Carl, unfortunately "the day when any church can supress crimes is slowly coming to an end" is very slow indeed.
A friend of mine is a layperson volunteer in a Catholic church in the United States and was telling me how this type of thing can no longer happen because as part of their 'training' they must learn an entire protocol for how to respond to any report or suspicion of child abuse/molestation. It involves reporting a priest to the church pastor, or if the allegation is against a pastor then they are to report it to the area's bishop, etc.
My response was simple: why not just call the police?? My friend seemed surprised that he had not thought of that and he said that the way the church's protocol had been presented sounded so great as a reporting plan, until I pointed out that it was seeking to have the church be in the business of investigating a crime. It is astounding that the church has the gall to still play these games. The plan should be simple: call police.
As a former Catholic, the last four parishes I attended had one pastor dying of AIDS, a second busted by Portland, Oregon vice squad for propositioning a male undercover officer (and re-assigned to another parish), the third left the priesthood to marry his girlfriend, and the fourth was re-assigned after his skimming from the parish bingo game was reported to the state gaming commission. Based upon my experience, if the Vatican cleaned up its ordained orders, then very few would remain to serve in parishes. The only contemporary I know that became a priest was a gay classmate who came out of closet after graduating from high school. But my view is likely more cynical than the reality.
Former altar boy and singer Danny O'Keefe tells a familiar story in his song "Father Bernie's Boys" on YouTube: "...'Wake up Pat you're due at Mass' I can hear my father call / All of us have our souls to save after the fall / May Christ have mercy on our souls after the fall"
Danny O'Keefe Pray For Me/Fr. Bernie's Boys on YouTube
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