Welcome for Vatican guidelines on support of children born to Catholic clergy

By Noel Baker
Irish Examiner
January 23, 2020

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/welcome-for-vatican-guidelines-on-support-of-children-born-to-catholic-clergy-977319.html

An Irish-based organisation which offers support to children born of Catholic clergy around the world has welcomed Vatican Guidelines on the issue which it says were largely unknown up to now.

Coping International, now in its seventh year of operation, has been endorsed by the Vatican and has seen more than 100,000 individual people from 175 countries access its free mental health and advocacy service. It has estimated that there are at least 10,000 children of priests globally and has also worked alongside the Irish Catholic Bishops here on its approach to the issue.

Coping International founder, Vincent Doyle, who is also a psychotherapist, said he has now received confirmation from the Holy See that guidelines — the existence of which were first revealed last year by the New York Times — are the official template which is globally disseminated to episcopal conferences.

Mr Doyle noted that the new guidelines include that expulsion from the priesthood is not automatic in the case of a priest fathering a child.

Mr Doyle said the contents were largely unknown to the public until now: "Cardinal [Claudio] Hummes, the Prefect of the Congregation for Clergy in 2009 when the Vatican Guidelines were created, commented to me, '[the priest’s child has] the right not to be discriminated against or to be the object of prejudice'."

"He [Cardinal Hummes] added 'to be a priest's [child] in no way can mean a weight or demerit for the [child]. I defended this clearly when (2006-2010) I was Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy at the Roman Curia and Benedict XVI was the Pope. He agreed with me'."

Mr Doyle said: "What is perhaps most significant about the confirmation of the contents of the Vatican Guidelines concerning children of Roman Catholic Priests is the noted exceptions that allow priests to remain in ministry and openly acknowledge their biological children."

"The ad hoc nature of responding to these situations avoids automatic expulsion — a position which has led to unemployment in some cases. This was in part the driving force behind the secrecy surrounding this issue.”

Mr Doyle said that at a recent meeting he had with Vatican officials recently, "the bulk of the conversation surrounded how best to prepare a child to receive this news, in a compassionate and emotionally sensitive manner" — something he said illustrates the change in approach on the issue.

Mr Doyle said he believes Irish Catholic Bishops to be "at least 20 years ahead of every episcopal conference globally in regard to safeguarding".