Further audits will ensure issue can never be ignored
THERE can be little doubt that the audits into the six Catholic dioceses show that great progress has been made in creating a culture within the Catholic Church where the protection and welfare of children is put before the preservation of clerical privilege, the reputation of the church or the avoidance of scandal, so widely exposed in the judicial reports into the dioceses of Ferns (2005), Dublin (2009) and Cloyne (2010).
As well as progress noted, however, the audits show that the culture of cover-up was widespread across the church in Ireland.
While the progress that has been identified by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church is immense, it has been a long time coming.
Lessons had been learnt we were told, a new era of accountability was the only way forward bishops confidently assured the faithful.
Yet, for all of that talk, many bishops and religious superiors have had to be dragged away for lawyers' advice towards a new cultural realisation that the rights of children to be protected trump all other rights.
And it cannot be forgotten either that it took a northern Presbyterian in the person of Ian Elliott to bring around what one senior church source described as 'clerical glasnost'.
Known for his stubborn and determined manner, Mr Elliott has succeeded where others have failed in challenging what Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has described as a 'cabal'.
Complacency
But, before anyone gets complacent or imagine the job has been done, there are 180 more audits to filter in coming years. Mr Elliott was asked to audit the Catholic Church in Ireland and that is what he is doing.
Every part from the largest diocese to the smallest convent will be subject to his close scrutiny. Mr Elliott knows that the Catholic Church, like any other institution, runs the risk of falling back into old patterns of behaviour and the old ways of doing things the moment the spotlight is dimmed.
Safeguarding children is not something to be done and then shelved.
Those bishops audited this week can rightly take some satisfaction in their achievements in child protection that have been reported in these latest audits. But it must never be allowed to lead to a collective amnesia about how we got there nor can the by-and-large positive reports about current procedures be allowed to detract from the dreadful failings.
Public trust might be rebuilt in the church but the lives of those ruined by abuse and the faith of those shattered when they were let down by the church that they trusted to protect its more vulnerable members will never be restored. We have a duty to them never to forget and in the words of Ian Elliott that "increased transparency and accountability must be seen as the two essential elements of the church's approach to safeguarding children".
And not just child safeguarding: There is a piercing need for a wider culture of transparency in the Catholic Church.
Michael Kelly is deputy editor of 'The Irish Catholic' newspaper.
- Michael Kelly
Irish Independent
