| The Joe Horgan Column By Joe
Horgan
These last few weeks it felt as if we were witnessing a truly seismic
shift in Irish society. Perhaps we weren’t and perhaps in a short while
all of this will be forgotten. But somehow that seems unlikely. The publication
of the Ferns Report into the sexual abuse of children by the priests of
one Wexford diocese brought forward such an overwhelming response that it
has really felt as if we were all looking on at the final demise of the
Catholic Church in Ireland.
It has been touching to see people with a true faith such as my own mother
struggling to come to terms with these revelations. You can’t help but feel
sympathetic at seeing Catholic Ireland suddenly realise the enormity of
what went on its midst and under the cover and garb of its holy name. The
airwaves have been full of priests bewildered and lost at the full extent
of what went on within their own Church. Yet by the end of yet another priest
voicing his sorrow I couldn’t help feeling that this was perhaps indicative
of one of the central problems. I wanted someone to stop one of those priests
in the middle of his outpouring of pain and say yes, I appreciate your feelings,
but you know, it’s not about you. It’s not about your loss and the shame
of your Church, it’s about all those innocent children that your fellow
priests abused. And it is about the fact that your Church, both by its actions
and its inactions, helped to facilitate this abuse.
The list and detail of the abuse is horrific. It is beyond imagination.
If the Church’s concept of evil exists then it existed there in the bodies
and minds of those priests who did these things. Almost as shocking as the
abuse itself is the way in which the Church dealt with it. We could go on
forever as to why the Church appeared to be a haven for those who wished
to prey on children. We could debate at great length the Church’s view of
sexuality and suggest that perhaps its own distorted view of and obsession
with sex contributed to the development of those with a twisted and distorted
sexuality of their own. That is all up for argument.
What is not up for argument is the fact that the Church knew it had abusers
in its midst and allowed them to continue abusing. Not only that, it often
put these abusers in positions where they had ready access to young children.
The Church allowed this to happen, knew it was happening and allowed it
continue. It was the Catholic Church that abused those children.
Not that I’m suggesting that there was a doctrine of abuse in the Church
or that the Church sought to promote this abuse. What it did have, though,
was a doctrine of power and it was when this power was threatened by the
fact that some priests might be revealed as child sex abusers that the Church
acted.
It acted not out of conscience or of dismay and horror at what was being
done in its name by those professing to preach the teachings of Jesus. It
acted not with revulsion the way you or I would. It acted in ways that sought
not to protect those poor kids being abused, but to protect itself. It acted
to ensure that its power in Ireland and over the Irish people would remain.
It found the evil and hid it.
Of course the State and the gardaí colluded in this but somehow their
role is not so shocking. They have never pretended to have clean hands.
And sadly even with this report coming out and the Church seemingly being
hung out to dry, the suspicion remains that the Church continues to act
from that base instinct. The most expensive lawyers have been hired to protect
the financial assets of religious orders. Survivors’ groups who continue
to be inundated by those seeking help say they remain deeply suspicious
of the Church’s willingness to truly reveal all. Even a local parish priest
refused to read out a letter sent by the bishops to be read at every mass
across the country apologising for what had happened. He said it was too
little, too late.
So maybe it is too late for the Church. Maybe Catholic Ireland has had
its day. Shaken by a rising tide of secular commercialism and empty consumerism
it has been treading water for a while anyway. Sadly, even for those who
feel Ireland is an increasingly soulless place, after this catalogue of
abuse and cover up, who would mourn it all being washed away now?
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