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Sunday, 24 May 2009

Bishop apologises to abuse victims

The Catholic Bishop of Down and Connor has publicly apologised on behalf of the church to all victims of clerical abuse.

The move follows the release of the Ryan Commission report, which found that beatings and humiliation by nuns and priests were common at institutions that held up to 30,000 children.

Noel Treanor was speaking at mass at the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Carryduff on Sunday afternoon. In his homily he described the contents of the report as "horrific and heart breaking, criminal and sinful".

The Bishop said that criminal charges should be brought against the abusers and that the issue of compensation should be revisited.

He also said that he would support an inquiry into abuse allegations in Northern Ireland: "I have heard about the calls and personally I am of the opinion that if such a request is made then it should be pursued.

"All institutions in the north of Ireland which have had care of children and vulnerable adults should be the object of such an inquiry without exception."

It comes as a senior aide to Cardinal Sean Brady insisted that religious orders must pay more compensation to the victims of abuse in their institutions.

Opposition political leaders have called for a renegotiation of the compensation deal which meant the Catholic religious orders were liable for only 10% of the estimated 1.2 bn euro (£1bn) final compensation bill.

Fr Timothy Bartlett, who is Cardinal Brady's personal assistant, said on Sunday: "I believe personally there is no question but that the agreement must be looked at again."

The influential cleric added: "In my personal view, they need to pay more."

Thousands of members of the public have signed a 'book of solidarity' for victims of the abuse in Dublin's Mansion House.

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6 Comments

At 00:05 on 27 May 2009, Little Bear wrote:

I agree completely with Sister Maureen Turlish! The religious communities should be investigated, the perpetrators should be named, and if living---punished. More money should be paid out to victims. And an international committee should be formed to investigate the Vatican itself. These crimes have gone on in other nations as well---and it speaks of rot coming from the Vatican itself.

At 17:44 on 25 May 2009, P McCann wrote:

if this can go on under the nose of 'right-thinking' society what is to say that the priests/nuns that went out to Africa and these other countries and done the same out there?. After all there was absolutely noone to look into what they were doing out there. Does noone else think that this is highly probable??

At 14:12 on 25 May 2009, lorna wrote:

I can't understand why the Catholic church let this happen how they thought the interest of the Church was served by moving evil people on to damage more children. Now the damage they have done is revealed to the world and the Christian Gospel has been blighted. It was the evil was two fold the people guilty of destroying children's lives and the others who kept it going on. Talk about passing by on the other side. the apology is so weak when we know the extent of the damage that was allowed to happen

At 18:22 on 24 May 2009, evelyn Miller wrote:

unforgiveable - the people responsible for the abuse of these children should be named and put in jail - some are still alive and working with children. They have ruined lives with their evil and they called themselves "Christians"

At 17:32 on 24 May 2009, G Quinlan wrote:

It's more about prosecution than financial payouts. Surely those who committed these crimes, or covered up for abusers, need to be prosecuted first and foremost - then the issue of compensation can be considered. The financial settlement is secondary to prosecution! Also, we need reassurance that coverups will never happen again - and that abusers will face the full force of the law. NO EXCUSES.

At 17:06 on 24 May 2009, Sister Maureen Paul Turlish wrote:

PUBLIC APOLOGIES? I'm sorry but a whole lot more than public apologies from bishops like the Catholic Bishop of Down are necessary here. The government of Ireland made a deal with the Devil in agreeing not to prosecute or name any of the individuals, living or dead, who were party to such widespread torture and abuse of children as has been reported in Ireland's Ryan Report. The Holy See itself along with the leaders and superiors of every religious order implicated in this tragedy like the Christian Brothers, the Sisters of Mercy and the Sisters of Charity and the individual perpetrators, living or dead, who were ever convicted, credibly accused or known by church authorites to have raped, sodomized, tortured and abused the children in their care should be brought before the world's court. The two nuns who brokered the arrangement with the Irish government to limit the institutional Roman Catholic Church's responsibility should be ashamed of themselves, I know I am. These are nothing nothing less than Crimes against humanity and should be prosecuted as such. The Holy See is a signatory to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Child even though it has never submitted one of the required compliance reports and I suspect Ireland is a signatory to that document as well. Crimes against humanity! Every single God given right has been denied these children and they are deserving of some justice. They should get it from the world court and the sooner the better.