CATHOLIC BISHOPS have expressed deep shock at the findings of the Murphy report and say they want to “humbly ask for forgiveness.”
In a statement last night at the end of the first day of their winter meeting in Maynooth, the Irish Bishops’ Conference said: “We are deeply shocked by the scale and depravity of abuse as described in the report. We are shamed by the extent to which child sexual abuse was covered up in the archdiocese of Dublin and recognise that this indicates a culture that was widespread in the church.
“The avoidance of scandal, the preservation of the reputations of individuals and of the church, took precedence over the safety and welfare of children. This should never have happened and must never be allowed to happen again. We humbly ask for forgiveness.”
The report “raises very important issues for the church in Ireland, including the functioning of the bishops’ conference and how the lay faithful can be more effectively involved in the life of the church”.
The concept of mental reservation “has no place in covering up evil. Charity, truthfulness, integrity and transparency must be the hallmark of all our communications”.
The bishops will ask the church’s National Board for Safeguarding Children to explore with the authorities “a mechanism by which to ensure that the church’s current policies and practices in relation to the safeguarding of children represent best practice and that allegations of abuse are properly handled,” they said.
Today, the Catholic primate Cardinal Seán Brady and the Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin will fly to Rome where they will meet Pope Benedict and senior Curia figures tomorrow.
Two bishops named in the Murphy report, the Bishop of Galway Martin Drennan and Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin Éamonn Walsh, yesterday commented on the report findings.
Bishop Drennan said he was comfortable with the report as it “says nothing negative about me”.
Bishop Walsh said: “If I had done any wrong, I’d be gone . . . If on the other hand the perception continued among the people that I was somebody who was complicit in all of this, then that would be a barrier in my ministry and I couldn’t even minister as a priest or a bishop if that were to continue.”
Bishop Walsh has been an auxiliary bishop in the Dublin archdiocese since 1990.
Before that, he was secretary to the archbishop of Dublin from 1985 and so would have held key positions in the archdiocese for much of the period covered by the Murphy commission report.
