Church should ‘address dark past’ ahead of visit – bishop

THE Bishop of Limerick has said the Catholic Church needs to address dark aspects of its history, including sexual abuse of minors and subsequent cover-ups, ahead of the visit of the Pope in nine days.

Bishop Brendan Leahy said the papal visit will be a pivotal moment to “repair” the Church, and the good and bad of the past should be acknowledged.

Bishop Leahy (inset) was speaking at yesterday morning’s Assumption Day Mass in Ashford, near Newcastle West.

“Without gratitude we grow cynical.

“We can and should be proud of the living commitment in faith and hope of those of previous generations. We can draw inspiration from it and express our thanks to them,” he said. “But, then, we need to acknowledge the dark aspects of our Church’s history that have come to light, especially in recent decades – a clericalism that ended up confusing power and ministry, the sexual abuse of minors by clergy and religious that did untold life-long damage to victims, the violent and repressive treatment by Church representatives of young people sent to the State’s reformatory institutions, the dark experience of vulnerable women in places meant to be residences of refuge.”

He added that “not every” member of the Church was bad, but that “not everyone was good”.

He said many in the Church were helpful and caring.