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ARCHBISHOP Eamon Martin has said talking with survivors of sexual abuse is difficult for all involved as they do not trust the Church.
At a World Meeting of Families media briefing yesterday, the Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland said he never doubted the pontiff would be introduced to victims.
He added: “Hearing Pope Francis speak on this issue, he has always been very clear he wants to reach out to survivors.
“It is a difficult thing to do, as I have found in my own experience. While meeting with survivors is not easy for any of us, survivors sometimes simply don’t trust us.
“I think it’s important the meeting is seen as a sacred or special moment for the survivors and Pope Francis.
“I expect Pope Francis will be in listening mode as we all should be in dealing with this issue.”
Archbishop Martin was accompanied at the Dublin event by Archbishop of Chicago Blase Cupich.
Referencing the recent #Metoo movement which gripped Hollywood, he described the Catholic Church’s own scandals as an infected boil.
Cardinal Cupich said: “People are finding freedom to come forward when they see accusations against certain individuals.
“This might seem threatening to people within the Church as it could prompt others to demand justice in their circumstances but I feel this is the only way we can lance this boil that is so infected. This is a dark moment for the Church, a black moment. It is causing us shame.
“The real darkness is within the victims, that is where Jesus is and we must always put the victims first.”
Pushed on the topic of LGBTQ+ people within the Church, the bishops were asked what they thought of a recent speech by Fr James Martin, who said those who promoted conversion
It’s a dark moment for the Church ...it is causing us shame
CARDINAL CUPICH
DUBLIN YESTERDAY
therapy were wrong. Archbishop Martin said he was not aware of this sort of Catholic treatment in Ireland.
He added: “Conversion, change and repentance is something that is offered to all Christians but I don’t fully understand the idea of conversion therapy.
“I think a call to chastity, which is there for all Catholics with regard to sexual activity outside of marriage, is something that is very real but I wouldn’t support this idea of some kind of psychotherapy within a Church setting.
“We’re all sexual beings, we want to make sure a so-called conversion model doesn’t start from the premise that the individual is in some way deformed or sick, like someone else who needs therapy.
“That’s a message that so often young people who are struggling with sexuality questions are so sensitive to.
“If that’s the first message that we as adults are giving to young people, we’re setting them on the wrong path.
“Let’s make sure we’re very clear and sensitive to the fact everyone struggles with how they live out their sexuality and we are always in need of redemption. That calls for a chaste lifestyle but to stigmatise one over the other is very damaging and is not the gospel.”
Meanwhile, an academic at Trinity College Dublin yesterday claimed Catholics can no longer ignore revelations of clerical sex abuse.
Fainche Ryan said she was shocked by the scandal and in particular “the cover-up by the bishops, by the leaders”.
But citing mother and baby homes as an example, the director of the Loyola Institute of Theology said: “We have to take our responsibility as well. “It was an Irish society, it was Irish fathers and Irish mothers and Irish parents that brought these daughters to these homes and left them there, in many cases. Where were the fathers of these children?”
Despite this, Dr Ryan said she believed the papal visit will be largely positive, adding: “It could give a good injection of hope to the Church in Ireland if we take on board some of what Francis is about.”