Would You Walk out of Mass If a Priest Prayed for a Sex Attacker?

By Colette Browne
Irish Independent
November 27, 2013

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/colette-browne/would-you-walk-out-of-mass-if-a-priest-prayed-for-a-sex-attacker-29787078.html


If you want to know what rape culture looks like there is no more evocative image than a church full of the faithful bowing their heads and being asked to pray for the acquittal of a man charged with serious sexual offences.

As Cork's former lord mayor, John Murray, stood trial for the sexual assault of a teenager last week, a priest celebrating a funeral Mass in another part of the city used the occasion to pray for his exoneration.

The inference was clear. An innocent elderly man, a stalwart of the community, was facing scurrilous charges from a lying, scheming woman. She should not be believed.

But the jury did believe her and returned a unanimous guilty verdict. Today Murray, who first sexually assaulted the victim when she was just 13, is in prison awaiting sentence.

Some of the mourners, including relatives of the deceased, have since publicly condemned the priest for hi-jacking the funeral to make his astonishing intercession on Murray's behalf.

One woman said she was tempted to walk out but didn't "out of respect for the dead". What about respect for the living?

Having listened to the priest pray for the accused, did anyone think of the impact it would have on the victim?

The family of the deceased, overcome with grief, cannot be blamed for the priest's grotesque intervention. A close family member did not even hear what was said and was clarly appalled when told of it at the funeral meal.

Someone in that crowd could have stood up and said the prayer was inappropriate. Yes, it would have been awkward and uncomfortable. But it would have been the right thing to do.

That priest, who has since apologised to the family, but not the victim, should have been told, there and then, that his request was an appalling abuse of a family tragedy and that courts, not clergy, determine guilt and innocence.

Instead, as far as we know, the biggest protest that was mounted was an uncomfortable silence from some, as others solemnly intoned the words of the prayer that called for Murray's release.

When cases of this nature are reported, the stock response is that it is reminiscent of a John B Keane play. Things like this don't really happen anymore. They're an aberration, a relic from a misogynistic, bygone era.