Bishop confident Pope wants action
THE Catholic Bishop of Dunedin says a Vatican conference on sexual abuse is just ‘‘the beginning’’, despite the lack of concrete action.
The Most Rev Michael Dooley yesterday told ODT Insight the international gathering of bishops was about getting ‘‘attitudes right’’.
Pope Francis had indicated new guidelines would follow on the response to the sexual abuse crisis within the church, and it was hoped those would contain concrete steps to address the issue, Bishop Dooley said.
He was also positive about the Pope’s commitment to ‘‘spare no effort’’ in tackling abuse, despite outrage from survivors who wanted a ‘‘zero tolerance’’ commitment from the Vatican.
‘‘My gut feeling is that Pope Francis wants to deal with this,’’ Bishop Dooley said.
‘‘I think the ‘spare no effort’ is, to my mind, a strong indication to do something. I would take it in a positive light — that we are to do everything we can.’’
In New Zealand, the Vatican statements gave fresh ‘‘impetus and encouragement’’ to cement new safeguarding principles for clergy and volunteers within the church, he said.
He was also philosophical about Dunedin survivor Darryl Smith missing out on an audience with the Pope, despite carrying a letter of introduction from Bishop Dooley to the Vatican.
He had hoped Mr Smith might be able to join a larger group of survivors in a ‘‘general audience’’ with the Pope, if one had been arranged.
‘‘It didn’t happen, but Darryl was well aware that it was unlikely he’d be able to see the Pope, but I admire his positivity in going there and aiming for that.
‘‘Good on him, because in a way, he made a good point by doing that.’’
He was also hopeful the church was moving towards the kind of greater disclosure demanded by victim and survivor advocate Dr Murray Heasley.
‘‘I think what [Dr Heasley’s] resolution wanted was very much what the general thrust of the summit was, but they mightn’t be quite up to there yet.’’