Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Pope Francis can change the Church .. he has to
Scandal-rocked institution must embrace modern society and tackle cover-up of child sexual abuse
THE Catholic Church is at the greatest crossroads in its history. Will it embrace modern society or become an apologist for criminals?
Its future rests with a humble 82-yearold Jesuit priest from Buenos Aires but will Pope Francis have the vision, courage and guts to force change?
The past 30 years has been a harrowing time for Catholics in Ireland.
We watched the country’s most powerful institution suffer death by a thousand cuts as it was rocked by scandal after scandal. Those of us who believe in a God found it very difficult to listen to sermons from the altar when devils in black were abusing children and the bishops and cardinals covered up for them, as if nothing happened.
From the 1930s through to the 1980s, thousands were abused in Church-run industrial schools, mother and baby homes, reform schools and orphanages.
The angelic victims were easy prey for a paedophile army protected by the Establishment and, sadly, the great and the good in Irish society.
When the Church said jump, the cowardly politicians asked, “How high?” Even the police turned a blind eye in the great cover-up.
As a journalist I covered many of the scandals from Fr Brendan Smyth, who abused 142 children, to Fr Sean Fortune, who raped 29 boys, let alone the horror in the laundries exposed by the bravery of Christine Buckley.
CONDEMNED
I was openly condemned from the pulpit of a church in Drogheda and abused by a bishop on the street.
Ironically, I got my little bit of faith from an Augustinian priest, the late Fr Jim Kiely. He was a missionary who fell ill and ended up in our local church in the 1970s and early 1980s.
For 14 years he preached to the young, helped the old, made Mass trendy and interesting, and helped us all become better human beings. His folk masses were as good as any gig.
He was to me a real-life apostle and stood for everything good about the Catholic Church.
Two Christian brothers, both good men, Bro Paddy Mcshane and Bro Mckinney, also helped shaped my beliefs. Paddy would tell us any day you
wake up is a great day so just say a little prayer and thank God you are alive.
Jim Kiely became aware a Christian Brother from another local school was abusing a group of teenage boys and kept the beast away from his church telling him he wasn’t welcome.
It took some of the brute’s victims years to recover and to get treatment for their ordeals.
I know of one who tried to kill himself twice but thankfully is still alive.
But there are stories of abuse victims in every parish in Ireland, both north and south. Only 70 priests were either convicted or faced abused allegations – which means many got away with it.
Consequently, as a society we have been forced to face our demons and have introduced the mandatory reporting of child sex abuse while most of the rest of the Catholic Church hasn’t.
This means the priests, nuns, bishops in the Republic must report a case if they become aware of it and if they don’t they become compliant in the crime for the cover-up.
So far the Pope and the Vatican has failed to address this issue across the globe. When the Pope speaks in Ireland this weekend the world will watch with bated breath to see what he has to say and what he will do.
LEADERSHIP
Sadly the leadership of the Church has been in denial about a whole range of issues for years.
The bishops generally have been out of touch with the people.
Dwindling numbers at Masses all over Ireland is reflective of this.
The Catholic Church should be a church for everyone. This means an
end to celibacy – man’s law not God’s law – and the right of priests to marry.
The dire need for the ordination of women priests, and a far greater role for women generally in the Church.
The recognition of the gay community – are they not God’s children as well? As Jesus said: “There is a place for everyone in my house”.
Sadly the Church was infested by devils. I hope and pray Pope Francis, a lovely, kind man, can give the Catholic Church a much-needed new lease of life.
People have faith; they just don’t trust their Church any more.