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	Renewal Needed at Top Levels across Society The Meath Chronicle February 17, 2010 http://www.meathchronicle.ie/opinion/comment/articles/2010/02/17/3994893-renewal-needed-at-top-levels-across-society/ Since the weekend, the entire serving hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church has been gathered in Rome for a meeting with Pope Benedict and senior members of the Curia. The bishops were summoned to the Vatican by the pope following the revelations contained in the Ryan and more recently, the Murphy reports into abuse within the Catholic orders, and the Catholic church. The Archbishop of Armagh, and Primate of All Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady, has described it as a step in a process which will lead to a journey of repentance, renewal and reconciliation. It has been an unprecedented period in the Irish Catholic Church, with bishops resigning hand-over-fist as details of their non-action with regard to complaints by victims of child abusing clergy were highlighted. Renewal is not just something needed in the Catholic Church, but across the entire institutions of State and society, where all those categories of people who were once pillars have, in the past couple of decades, been disgraced. Up to 20 years ago or so, young people growing up were brought up to respect members of the community who held various positions - the local priest, politician, bank manager, doctor, garda. Hopefully, people still respect the local individuals who carry out these roles, but the greater institutions combined with actions of a few have not been making it easy. This is especially true of the Catholic Church, where the horrific abuse of youngsters by clergy in positions of trust was compounded by the cover-up and the inadequacies in dealing with it. Surely it was a mistake making Desmond Connell of Dublin a cardinal, and the fact that the people of Dublin no longer want a local park named after Archbishop Dermot Ryan speaks volumes. Bishop Eamon Casey and Fr Michael Cleary, whilst involved in a different type of Church scandal, were leading hypocritical lives, and were the first signs of crumbling with the institution, and are almost forgotten now. At the same time, revelations were beginning to emerge on the political scene of politicians taking inappropriate donations of cash, which led to over a decade of tribunals and inquiries into the actions of public representatives which are still going on. Charles Haughey, in his resignation speech as Taoiseach, said he hoped he did the State some service, but he mainly served himself. He did have some well-recognised achievements, kick-starting the peace process and the 'celtic tiger' but his most remembered one, certainly by those who lived through what Maire Geoghegan Quinn declared the 'Haughey era' at a famous Ard Fheis, will be to have presided over a period of corruption and 'backhanders', with tribunal reports still awaited on much of this period, and a number of politicians and others receiving jail sentences. It was during this time too, that the property developer became the new god, with the bank managers falling over themselves to accommodate the loaning of millions, nay, billions, of punts and euro to finance deals. And not only to the developers, but the ordinary Joe and Mary Soap, who went looking for a ˆ5,000 loan and were approved a ˆ50,000 fund or more, many of whom were foolish enough to accept. There have been scandals involving the gardai in Donegal, and the medical profession in Drogheda, which a blind eye was turned to for many years. If this all sounds like raking over old coals, the resignation of George Lee from the body politic is a further blow to the institutions of State. While his departure is for personal reasons rather than any scandal, it is a huge slap in the face for Dail Eireann. Here was a young, vibrant economics expert who was willing to go into Leinster House as a public representative. He may not have liked it there, but sadly, he didn't stay around long enough to make a difference. Which is a great pity, because somebody is needed to stand up to the type of ineptitude that has been prevalent in government and State bodies over the past year, from activities in FAS to the handling of handshakes for bailed-out bank bosses, even if from the Independent backbenches. In the past there has been criticism of the links between Church and State, particularly in the John Charles McQuaid -Eamon de Valera era, and there have been moves over the years to separate them, but one thing is clear, that both need that renewal that Cardinal Brady talks of.
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