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Church has lost its might and hierarchy know that
Saturday, 12 December 2009
A united front cannot conceal the divisions.
It is a symbol of the might of the Catholic Church. But yesterday, in the shadow of St Peter's Cathedral, the cracks in the Irish Catholic Church began to show — and to widen.
Talks of reorganisation and rolling heads show that the Church has lost its might in Ireland — and the hierarchy has finally realised it.
Arriving separately for a media briefing, Cardinal Sean Brady and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin stood side by side and sang from the same hymn sheet.
But it was clear that despite the release of the Ferns, Ryan and Murphy reports, the issue of child sex abuse is something Cardinal Brady finds difficult to talk about.
Surrounded by members of the international media, his voice shook as he spoke of the meeting they had with Pope Benedict XVI.
He said he was “saddened” to be back in Rome addressing the issue of abuse so soon after the Ryan report, but the Church wanted to ensure it would never happen again.
“I asked him (the Pope) in my opening remarks to teach us, to help us to be better shepherds of the people, to lead us on the way of repentance,” he said.
But for Archbishop Martin the time of being just a shepherd over an angry flock is clearly over. He wants explanations, reorganisation and rolling heads. And he pledged he's going to keep pushing until these things are done.
“Terrible mistakes were made and we can't get over that,” he said. “We have to address these things. In the report it's very clear there were systems problems, there was bad communication.
“And the Ferns report also said bishops should have management training.
“We have to get our systems right so this sort of compartmentalisation of knowledge doesn't take place. That was a serious problem.”
Sticking rigidly to his pledge that the men would talk for 10 minutes, Cardinal Brady's Press adviser Martin Long jumped in to wrap things up.
Enough had been said.
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Keith is mostly right....in the Scriptures (especially the New Testament) there is loads of stuff about church leaders i.e. bishops, elders and deacons being the "husband of one wife" and "managing their families/children well"...if this was the standard practise amongst Christians in the first and second centuries then we should follow this pattern now. Going against it is a recipe for disaster...as we have clearly seen. In fact the command to "go forth and have children" does not exclude anyone. Therefore the Pope should seek a complete turnaround...henceforth anybody wanting to become a Priest must be a family man with a good moral track history and reputation.
Posted by Philip Holdway-Davis | 13.12.09, 22:40 GMT
So much for Papal Infallibility, in the wake of such sinful abuse in the Church of Rome.
The offending Catholic bishops in Ireland have successfully exposed this erroneous Papal teaching. They have been teaching 'cover up' as faith and morals, thus compromising their head bishop at Rome.
It appears that the cosmetics on the face of 'mother church' are cracking.
'He that covereth his sins shall not prosper' (Prov28:13)
Posted by Rev Mervyn Cotton | 12.12.09, 19:49 GMT
You state that if celibacy isn't abolished then we will soon be in a position where the Catholic Church is not welcome in decent society. Are you suggesting that the Catholic Church be outlawed? Or just treated by the government with less esteem or courtesy than Protestant churches?
Posted by shane o'neill | 12.12.09, 19:21 GMT
Keith, the Protestant churches of America do not have celibacy and sex abuse is higher among their ministers than among Catholic priests. Insurance companies reported that over a 10 to 20 year period, there was a consistent average of 260 sex abuse reports per year involving Protestant clergy and staff.
This 260 per year average for Protestants “is a higher number than the annual average of 228 ‘credible accusations’ brought against Catholic clerics.”
As a FOX News commentator noted: In the Catholic context, the 228 per year number “includes all ‘credible accusations,’ not just those that have involved insurance companies, and still is less than the number of Protestant ministers.
The protestant figure is also understated because abuse reports are usually only reported to the companies when it is brough to a law court. Catholic church records provide an easier mechanism of assessing abuse data. That's because Catholic canon law requires keeping of records.
Posted by shane o'neill | 12.12.09, 19:20 GMT
This is not just about systems or the Pope feeling 'saddened'. In my opinion there is something institutionally wrong with the morality and doctrine of the Catholic Church and surely this has now become clear to the whole world. In my view at the root of all this is the practice of celibacy which is claimed to be justified by the celibacy of Jesus, but neither the Pope nor any Catholic historian has any evidence at all that Jesus was not married or that he was celibate but in those days it would have been remarkable for a Rabbi to be unmarried. I think the Catholic Church is in denial and has failed to understand the seriousness of the impact these crimes are having because, in my view, unless the practice of celibacy is reversed we will soon be in a position where the Catholic Church is not welcome in decent society.
Posted by Keith | 12.12.09, 15:14 GMT
The Church in Ireland has been dying since the Second Vatican Council, not just tsince the sex scandals. For example the number of religious vocations to the Holy Ghost Fathers was cut more than in half between 1964 and 1969. Religious vocations declined by 75% from 1965 to 1985 [before the scandals]. In twenty years the Church in Ireland will be almost dead.
Posted by shane o'neill | 12.12.09, 11:44 GMT
enough said maybe but not done the true extent of abuse is im sure still to come out squeezed dribble by dribble like blood from a stone ,from a vatican who is only concerned about damage limatation, and the children come last what would jesus think of this not a lot im sure
Posted by liam | 12.12.09, 11:36 GMT