The Ferns Report

It's hard not to address this issue today in light of the revelations yesterday in the Report on child sexual abuse in the Diocese of Ferns over a period of 4 decades.

The coverage last night on Today FM's The Last Word was harrowing to say the least. The extended coverage on RTE's Radion 1 while not as graphic was difficult to listen to and disturbing. Today I find myself continuously thinking about the children who were abused, the irretrievable damage that was done to their innocence, confidence not to mention faith. And I feel sick and angry, no doubt like most other people who are following the story.

I am a Catholic. I have faith that there is a God. But I have no faith in the Catholic Church. I call myself a Catholic because that was the faith I was raised in, I go to mass occasionally and I think that the parish I come from at home is a good place, a safe place and I enjoy the sense of community when I visit there. I've never found that sort of comfort in Dublin churches and so I don't generally attend them. It's not the mass that attracts me to the church its the community.

What happened in Ferns ripped the community apart. It robbed people of that sense of belonging somewhere, it destroyed the lives of young people and it was let happen by the higher authorities. It would appear from what I heard this morning that the cycle of abuse started in the Seminaries. The Seminarians themselves were abused or were shown that it was ok to abuse without consequence, and the cycle began.

The report apparantly maintains that there was no organised paedophile ring in the Wexford area but it would appear that because of the lax attitudes of both Bishops Herlihy and Comiskey during the period when the abuse took place. Because although they had knowledge that some of the priests involved were not fit for the priesthood, they were allowed to practice in communities and interact with young children. The whole thing is appalling. It's sickening and it's depressing.

This is just one report one diocese in one small country. How widespread is/was this sort of abuse? What can the Catholic Church do to repair the hurt and heal the pain caused by some members of their priesthood? Will the church do what is necessary?

One of the saddest aspects of this story is the bad light that the priesthood has now been cast in. There are undoubtedly bad men in orders who need to be weeded out and punished, but we have to remember that there are also very good people, kind people who have chosen to sacrifice so much to shepard communities. Those people should not be punished for the sins of those who did so much wrong. There needs to be a balance in our reaction to this report. We need to remember that although we should expect that people in positions of responsibility and respect should be of unimpeachable moral goodness, that those who behave badly represent themselves and not the group as a whole.

Saying that though I have no doubt that the Catholic Church has been badly damaged by the proof of allegations of abuse against children and I for one really don't know how it is going to regain the confidence of people without a major fundamental change in the way the church is run and organised. That change is not going to happen in the near future, not with the current administration in the Vatican. That to me is a pity and a great loss to people like me who just like belonging somewhere.