Report 'Almost Farcical' in Places

By Charlie Taylor, Paul Cullen and Lorna Siggins
Irish Times
March 21, 2012

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0321/1224313640572.html

THE VATICAN is still not accepting responsibility for its role in creating the culture of cover-ups of the sexual abuse of children, it was claimed yesterday.

One in Four, which supports survivors of abuse, expressed disappointment over what it said was the Vatican's failure to acknowledge that its interventions in the abuse scandal had allowed church leaders to ignore guidelines and to protect the church at the expense of the safety of children.

"While we welcome the findings of the visitation that the Irish church now has good child protection practices in place, we feel it is a lost opportunity to address the role played by the Vatican in perpetuating the policy of protecting abusive priests at the expense of children," said executive director of the organisation Maeve Lewis.

One in Four founder Colm O'Gorman said the seven-page summary of the visitation reports offered very little of value and was "almost farcical" in places.

Speaking on Newstalk radio, he said that while the church had put a number of guidelines in place, it had resolutely failed to follow or respect them.

"Nowhere in this statement or in any statement the Vatican has ever made, has it acknowledged its responsibility for the cover-up of these crimes for its failure to properly address these crimes at any point," he said.

Abuse survivor Christine Buckley, of the Aíslínn Centre, said the Vatican had once again failed to acknowledge the enormous damage done to children. "It's actually a regression instead of a progression," she said.

Another abuse survivor, Andrew Madden, said the Vatican had "failed yet again to acknowledge and take responsibility for its role in facilitating a culture of cover-up which has caused the sexual abuse of so many children".

The Rape Crisis Network of Ireland said the report was welcome but was not a substitute for accountability to State structures.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny said he was satisfied from his discussions with church authorities that it was giving full co-operation on child protection issues.

Speaking outside the White House after his meeting with US president Barack Obama, Mr Kenny said every agency working with children had a duty and a responsibility to work in full compliance with the Government as it worked to set in place proper child protection through a referendum to be held later this year.

Fianna Fáil said the report offered no new perspective on the abuse crisis but it highlighted the need for prompter action on a range of concrete child protection measures.

Sinn Féin said the report failed to acknowledge the full responsibility of church institutions.

Archbishop of Tuam Dr Michael Neary described the Vatican report as "positive".