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On 23rd April 2002 Pope John Paul II declared:
"People need to know that there is no place in the priesthood and
religious life for those who would harm the young."
Irish Catholics now need to know that this is also the unequivocal
position of their own bishops.
So do our many innocent priests, who deserve to be free of all
suspicion.
Neither people nor priests can know this in the absence of adequate
information about the compensation for clerical child sex abuse so far
paid by the Irish Catholic church from the Stewardship Trust Fund.
On March 16th, 2005 the conference of Irish Catholic bishops declared
that :
"Since the establishment of the Stewardship Trust in 1996, 143 claims
against 36 priests who had worked in dioceses in Ireland have been
settled at a cost to the Stewardship Trust of ˆ8.78m."
This information should have been followed by specific information for
each diocese, detailing the number of offending priests concerned in
that diocese, and the sums involved.
Dioceses should also provide assurances that any and all such successful
claims were reported to the civil authorities, and that none of the
priests concerned remains in parish ministry, or any other ministry
involving children.
This diocese-specific information has not yet been provided. Nor have
these assurances been given. In at least one diocese all such
information has been bluntly refused.
Lacking that information and these assurances, Catholic lay people
cannot be sure that the Stewardship Trust Fund is not being used to
evade due civil process in relation to serious alleged crimes in their
own diocese. Everything that is known about the effects of child sex
abuse tells us that lack of due civil process, and lack of adequate
sanction against perpetrators, adds further injury to victims, and
delays their recovery.
At the very least, all Catholic parents, and all victims, are entitled
to certainty that no perpetrator of clerical child sex abuse has been
retained by any bishop in any ministry or location involving contact
with children. They do not have that certainty at present.
Innocent priests (the vast majority) are also entitled to be totally
free of any suspicion, and this also is impossible if this information,
and these assurances, cannot be given.
In these circumstances - and until adequate transparency has been
provided - we advise Irish Catholics to consider the possibility that by
contributing to the Stewardship Trust fund they may unwittingly be
assisting a policy that conceals child sex abuse, shields some of the
perpetrators of that abuse, compromises the ministry and standing of
innocent priests, and endangers children.
This lack of transparency on clerical child sex abuse also compromises
the vital cause of child protection in our church, because this
responsibility is also now - strangely - part of the responsibility of
the Stewardship Trust - a fund that arose out of the still unexplained
collapse of insurance cover against clerical child abuse in the period
1987-96.
All of us have a conscientious responsibility to ensure that "there is
no place in the priesthood and religious life for those who would harm
the young." In light of the harm already done to the authority of
bishops by the concealment of clerical child sex abuse, any continued
lack of transparency on this matter is reckless and inexplicable. It not
only endangers the victims of clerical sex abuse but challenges our
faith, hampers the mission of our church and further erodes the prestige
and authority of the office of bishop itself. |
VOTF™
Mission Statement
To provide a prayerful voice, attentive to the Spirit,
through which the Faithful can actively participate in the governance
and guidance of the Catholic Church.
Our Goals
1. To support
survivors of clergy sexual abuse.
2. To support priests of integrity
3.To shape structural change within the Catholic Church.
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