Thursday, March 22, 2012

Clergy welcome call to harmonise protocols for priests put on leave after abuse claims

Priests have welcomed the apostolic visitation’s acknowledgement that further work needs to be completed by the Catholic Church here to ensure that clerics on leave following abuse allegations are all being treated the same across the dioceses.

The Association of Catholic Priests had met with the visitation to discuss its belief that "existing protocols and guidelines" in this area were not refined enough "to ensure justice was done". It said that up to now, the handling of priests on leave "was left up to the individual diocese".

"Some priests are being given somewhere to live and an income after they have been accused of abuse, others aren’t. Some who are convicted are given a place to live, an income and are monitored, others aren’t," said Fr Brendan Hoban.

"And then there are the priests who have allegations made against them and the allegations don’t stand up and then they are left there in limbo. The bishops don’t want to be seen to bring them back into the parish — after what has happened. That mentality is out there. But surely these people are entitled to justice too?

"But, yes, there also needs to be sensitivity in these cases where the DPP has decided not to prosecute. Each case must be judged on its merits."

The Vatican report says guidelines must be formulated by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church for the "varied cases of those who have been accused, but in whose case the [DPP] has decided not to proceed".

It also must "formulate policies regarding the falsely accused and their return to ministry" and policies for the "pastoral care" of those convicted of sexual abuse, "the appropriate settings and the conditions under which such offenders should live".

Moral theologian at Maynooth, Vincent Twomey, told RTÉ News that he was "very impressed" with the report and pointed out that in these cases "very often what is not said, is as important as what is said".

He said he believed the visiting bishops had "got a wonderful overview of all the nuances that make up the Catholic Church in this country".

He also warmly welcomed the Church’s recommendations that the theological and intellectual education of the Irish clergy and laity needs to be improved.

Unprecedented probe

The investigation team was sent by Rome to investigate safeguarding procedures and protocols in the Catholic Church in Ireland after the Murphy and Ryan reports into clerical and institutional abuse unveiled decades of abuse and cover-ups by church and state authorities here.

The unprecedented probe, known as an apostolic visitation, was announced by the Pope in his letter to the Catholics of Ireland two years ago. The group visited Ireland early last year.

The team was made up of former Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor; Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley; Archbishop of Toronto, Thomas Christopher Collins; and Archbishop of Ottawa, Terrence Thomas Prendergast.

A summary of the report was published at the Columba Centre in St Patrick’s College, Maynooth yesterday by Cardinal Sean Brady, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin and papal nuncio to Ireland Archbishop Charles Brown.