"Pain and Shame" in Vatican Report

UTV
March 20, 2012

http://www.u.tv/News/Pain-and-shame-in-Vatican-report/3235426a-532a-4f2d-a1b0-70cf24c99d00

A major new report from the Vatican into clerical abuse has expressed a "great sense of pain and shame" and called for the church to continue devoting time to victims.

Senior Catholic leaders visited Ireland in early 2011 to investigate the implications of child abuse in each of the four archdiocese.

Publishing their findings on Tuesday, the Apostolic Visitation said the scandals have "opened wounds" and led people to lose trust in their pastors.

They found that "innocent young people were abused by clerics and religious to whose care they had been entrusted, while those who should have exercised vigilance often failed to do so effectively."

The report calls for "a new focus on the role of the laity".

It also said that good priests felt "unjustly tainted" and not defended by superiors.

Speaking after the publication, Primate of All Ireland Sean Brady said bishops wish to associate themselves with the "pain and shame" it expresses.

"Today's report provides us with a helpful snapshot of a key moment on the ongoing journey of renewal, and a signpost to future priorities and directions," Cardinal Brady said.

In expressing true sorrow and regret, we make our own the heartfelt plea for forgiveness from the victims, and from God, for these terrible crimes and sins.

Cardinal Sean Brady

Pope Benedict XVI promised the report two years ago in his letter to Catholics in Ireland.

In the letter, the Pope expressed his horror following the Ryan and Murphy reports into historical child abuse - the Visitation's report echoed those comments.

It said: "In communicating this summary of the findings of the Apostolic Visitation, the Holy See re-echoes the sense of dismay and betrayal which the Holy Father expressed in his Letter to the Catholics of Ireland regarding the sinful and criminal acts that were at the root of this particular crisis."

Six teams were assigned to formally assess the implications of the abuse scandals across the island, in religious orders and congregations based there and abroad.

Some of the teams met victims and concerned Catholics in advertised locations, as well as individual survivors in private.

The report concludes: "It is important that we, together, as the Catholic community in Ireland, take responsibility for the continuing renewal which has received such encouragement and further direction from this Apostolic Visitation."

Margaret McGuckin, a member of the group Survivors and Victims of Institutional Abuse, told UTV that the Church needs to look after the victims first.

"There's nothing in this document at all that would appease us - the victims or the survivors.

"It just seems to us that it's a lot of words."

Ms McGuckin, who was abused at the Nazareth House care facility in Belfast, said that although safeguarding measures have now been put in place for children - the Church needs to look after victims from the past also.

She said they needed to dedicate "more practical help" and look after the victims that had been left behind "not get the Church ready for renewal."