LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Guardian
January 6, 2018
By Kevin McKenna
[Note: See the McLennan Commission report. See also McKenna’s The Catholic church must think upon its sins.]
Not an ounce of compassion has been shown to survivors of sex abuse; if the hierarchy doesn’t wake up the church will not survive in the 21st century
The dawn of the new year brought with it an old tale with some familiar themes for the Catholic church in Scotland. These included an attitude towards some of its most vulnerable and damaged members that bordered on callous.
It was revealed that more than two years after the conclusion of the McLellan report into historical sex abuse in the church no contact has been made with victims’ groups. The report was compiled and delivered by the Very Reverend Dr Andrew McLellan, a former moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. He expressed astonishment at the Catholic hierarchy’s conduct.
McLellan’s report reviewed child protection and safeguarding policies and the church’s leaders greeted it with apparent humility and honeyed phrases. The archbishop of Glasgow, Philip Tartaglia, issued what sounded like a genuine and heartfelt apology. Two years on, his contrite tone rings hollow in the ears of many survivors of sex abuse in the Catholic church.
The Catholic church’s response is pitiless: why are you making trouble now, so long after the event?
The clumsy attempt by the church to ridicule McLellan’s claims was chillingly familiar to those who have found themselves on its wrong side in recent years. A spokesperson said this: “Crucially, no individual or organisation has a monopoly on survivor representation or interaction. Contact with survivors, by its nature confidential, is taking place across the church. Many survivors do not identify with or join national groups and such groups should not presume to speak for them.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.