26th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Today we depart from our usual practice. The homily will not concern itself with the scripture readings, but with a very important development in parish policy and practice. It is 14 years now since the clerical abuse scandal erupted in Ireland. It was a traumatic, shame-filled time for the Catholic Church here. Three enormous issues shocked people: first, the actual abuse of young people by clergy and religious. Those in positions of trust betrayed that trust for their own selfish, sinful ends. The second issue which shocked people was the manner in which the crimes were covered up by church leaders. Because of some distorted sense of loyalty, the welfare of the victims was sacrificed for the supposed good of the institution. The third thing that shocked people was the frightful and permanent psychological damage visited upon the victims by the acts of abuse. Many of these victims, for example, have failed to form stable, normal relationships because of the abuse.
Like most Catholics I suppose, Church leaders were slow to come to terms with and to take responsibility for the enormity of what had happened. We should never forget that abuse was widespread in the Church in Ireland. Blotting that out from our memories would simply be another form of denial. We should apply the aphorism, 'Those who forget their history are apt to repeat it' to ourselves. Abuse is part of our history. But there comes a time when we must move on. As a Church, we cannot beat ourselves up forever because of that abusive past. We would then simply be prisoners of our past. And prisoners of the past are never very effective witnesses to the gospel.
As I have written in the weekly Newsletter, three steps are required if to learn from experience and move positively into the future: (1) to accept the truth voiced by the victims; (2) to help the victims on the road to healing through whatever means possible - through counselling, compensation, or whatever; (3) (and this is the important step from the point of view of the local parish) we must make sure that abusers will never again find an opportunity within the church to perpetrate their crimes. Can we guarantee absolutely that no abuser will ever again insinuate himself into the clerical ranks, or masquerade as a church worker? Of course not! But what the Church can do is to put in place structures and practices that will deprive the abuser of the opportunity to ply his evil trade. And that is precisely what our 'Child Protection Policy' is attempting to achieve at parish level.
Of course there is no point in having a Child Protection Policy in place in one parish and not in the next. What we are doing this evening will be done in every parish in the country in the near future. The response of the Catholic Church to child abuse is a national response. Each individual parish, under the guidance of the bishops and religious superiors, has been asked to come up with its own individual response document. Our team consisted of Fr. Des Foley, Bridget Headon, Donal O'Connell, Rosemarie Ryan Niall Coghlan and Tony Murphy. We are very grateful to them for sticking with such a tedious task through the course of the year. The document they came up with was submitted for approved to a team appointed by the local bishop. They recommended some alterations. Our local team incorporated these recommendations and the document eventually received the approval of the bishop's committee.
This is a practical document, based on the way we live our lives in this parish. For example, some parishes have youth clubs where the practice of taking kids away for weekends is well established. Because of the age profile of this parish, we have no such clubs. Yet this does not mean that we don't require a child protection policy. Wherever the church gathers, children will be part of it. As I have already stated, the Parish Child Protection Policy is extremely practical. It lays down measures that must be taken and practices that must be followed by all who work with us in the Church here. In time these practices will become second nature to us. The 'Code of Practice' is available after the Mass, to be signed by all our voluntary workers who have not already signed it. Thank you for your cooperation and your patience.