Tuesday, August 09, 2011

Taoiseach's response to Cloyne Report has been deservedly praised ‎

THE much-maligned Roman Catholic Church will have in recent weeks contributed more than the Irish State for famine relief in Somalia. 

This is done through its Third World Development Agency, Trócaire.

The contributions in either case were not from the State or the Church in the sense that State funding is taxpayer’s money while the Trócaire funding comes from the generous contributions made by church congregations to help alleviate starvation and famine in the Horn of Africa.

Still it was mainly the nationwide church network, which helped organise and collect the amount of money involved in the case of Trócaire. 

This needs to be noted in the interests of balance at a time of an understandable anti-church media frenzy in the wake of the report on clerical child abuse in the Catholic diocese of Cloyne.

The much-maligned Roman Catholic Church through the St. Vincent De Paul Society has at the same time helped keep the wolf from many doors and food on many tables affected by cutbacks in jobs and social welfare benefits.

In this case too the money and the contributions of food, clothes, etc., came from what is known in church circles ‘the people of God’ the parishioners whose faith inspires them to share what they have, even if most of them have not very much themselves. 

This too needs to be noted in the interests of fairness and balance at this difficult time for many people in all walks of life.

The much-maligned Roman Catholic Church has in effect a better child protection system in place than many other societies and sporting groups in Ireland. 

This can be seen in action in most church sacristies in which care is taken to make sure that Mass servers are never in a one-to-one situation with a priest or other adult.

Priests, parish workers and parents are in favour of this and cooperate in this to the extent that signing in, being overseen or monitored are taken as a necessary part of life. 

The main problem in Cloyne diocese was that this system was not in place, or certainly was not in place to the extent that it should have been. 

The more than 90 per cent compliance with the rules and regulations throughout the country should, however, be noted in the interests of fairness and justice.

The Dáil speech of Taoiseach Enda Kenny in response to the Cloyne report has been deservedly praised, not least by clergy and committed Catholics.

It put into words what many were feeling throughout the country, exasperated by Vatican macinations, and wondering what was the problem with high-ranking Cardinals and officials who seemed to see the suffering of children as very low on their list of priorities.

Leaders and spokespersons for other political parties were forthright too in their comments. 

The ironic thing is that in this so-called Church-State debate, the State has more Roman Catholics, including priests and many bishops who were personally appalled by the findings of the Cloyne report, on its side than church officialdom has.