By Dearbhail McDonald
Irish Independent
February 6, 2008
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/the-pope-is-right--all-that-matters-is-finding-truth-1282450.html
TWO years ago, in an address to Ireland's bishops at the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI called on the Catholic Church to establish the truth about priests who sexually abused children.
In his first public criticism of clerical abuse, Ireland's prelates were told that they must deal effectively with problems caused by abuse if they hoped to meet the urgent task of rebuilding confidence and trust.
"It is important to establish the truth of what happened in the past, to take whatever steps are necessary to prevent it from occurring again," the Pontiff said, in a rare statement on paedophile priests that was circulated worldwide within hours.
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| Cardinal Connell and Archbishop Martin who are struggling to work out how best to proceed in handling sensitive files |
"Above all, [it is important] to bring healing to the victims and to all those affected by these egregious crimes."
Speaking in Rome after the audience, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin reflected on his remarks.
"He (the Pope) said to make sure the truth becomes known, that the whole truth must come out," the former Vatican diplomat later told reporters. "That has been very much my policy."
Dr Martin, who instigated an internal audit revealing that 147 priests had abused children in the scandal-rocked Dublin archdiocese he inherited from Cardinal Desmond Connell, has won widespread acclaim for his policy of opening Church files to State scrutiny.
But the task of rebuilding confidence and trust was dealt a mortal blow last week, when Cardinal Connell secured a temporary injunction to prevent access to over 5,000 files which he has asserted legal privilege over.
The intervention by the elderly cleric has taken Archbishop Martin and the Church hierarchy, currently enjoying a renaissance and a much needed popularity boost, by surprise.
It also stunned the Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation, the judge-led statutory inquiry which is investigating, not just the fact and extent of abuse in the Dublin archdiocese, but crucially, the manner in which it was handled by the Church leadership and other relevant authorities.
The commission, which has interviewed Cardinal Connell several times, has agreed not to examine the disputed files pending a full court hearing, but says that it was only recently that a claim of personal privilege was raised by Dublin's former archbishop.
The litigation may have come as an unpleasant shock to Diarmuid Martin, but Cardinal Connell's injunction (following "unanimous" advice by his lawyers) came as no surprise to victims of abuse, or those who observe clerical sex abuse actions across the globe.
Victims of paedophile priests frequently testify that the excessive legal strategies deployed by Church leaders are a secondary form of abuse that violates injured parties as much as the initial abuse itself.
They are thwarted at every turn; spurned for reporting the abuse, denied access to vital records, threatened with legal action and cowed by the prospect of financial ruin.
Three years ago, the Irish mother of an abuse victim who committed suicide said that her son had been "nailed to the cross" by a senior bishop and his legal representatives. Where Christian charity, humanity and the love of Christ were called for, the young man and his family encountered a wealth of legal obstacles.
Discovery, or access to internal Church documents, is the kernel of any civil action against a diocese as a result of the actions of a paedophile priest.
Documents such as archdiocesan personnel files and insurance policies pinpoint exactly who knew what and when, and what action, if any, was taken to stamp out abuse.
These documents are highly sensitive, as they can shed valuable light on the handling of the Church's response to abuse.
Cardinal Connell is not the only Church leader to take legal action to keep confidential documents from reaching the hands of civil and judicial authorities.
Other archbishops, notably in America, have also taken court applications to prevent disclosure of Church files.
Two years ago, the US Supreme Court refused to entertain an appeal by Cardinal Roger Mahony, the Archbishop of Los Angeles, who tried for over four years to block a subpoena for internal Church records.
Mahony unsuccessfully argued that state review of confidential files entangled the State in the internal religious life of churches, intruding into religious practice. He also cited a hitherto unheard of legal claim to bishop-priest privilege supposedly implied in the First Amendment.
The court, by refusing to review the case, gave those arguments short shrift and last year the Los Angeles archdiocese settled its clergy sex abuse cases for at least $600m, by far the largest payout in the church's sexual abuse scandal.
Pope Benedict XVI has insisted that the truth, however painful, must be revealed.
If he doesn't listen to the victims or to the public, perhaps Cardinal Connell will listen to the Pope.
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