Catholic Bishops say they 'share responsibility' over abuse scandal

Catriona Loughran • Published 18 Feb 2010 10:42 Comments 1 Comment

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Bishop of Clogher Joseph Duffy and Cardinal Sean Brady answer reporters' questions during a press conference at Vatican Radio office, in Rome on Tuesday. (AP Photo/ Alessandra Tarantino)

The Roman Catholic Bishop of Clogher, Most Rev. Dr. Joseph Duffy returned to Monaghan last night (Wednesday) after he and 23 other Irish bishops spent three days in the Vatican in Rome discussing the handling of clerical abuse in the Catholic Church.

Bishop Duffy, who is spokesman for the communications commission of the Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference, said; "We share responsibility for not doing the job as it should be done. I think that's only fair to say that."

He also said it was "our business is to try to repair that damage and to restore confidence, because confidence has been lost not only in the bishops, but by the bishops themselves."

The closed-door talks involved the Pontiff, seven of the most senior cardinals and 24 Irish bishops each of which were given seven minutes to speak on the crisis facing the moral authority of the church in the wake of the Murphy report.

In his statement after the discussions on Tuesday, Pope Benedict XVI described the sexual abuse of children as "not only a heinous crime, but also "a grave sin, which offends God and wounds the dignity of the human person created in his image".

The Pontiff also said he hopes this week's meeting in Rome with the Irish Bishops' Conference "would help to unify the bishops and enable them to speak with one voice in identifying concrete steps aimed at bringing healing to those who have been abused".

But he has been criticised by survivors groups for not furthering discussions over the resignations of bishops, for not inviting victims to Rome and for not making concrete proposals to address the damage caused.

On his planned pastoral letter "to the Catholics of Ireland", he said that this would now be completed "taking into account the comments of the Irish bishops" and would be issued during Lent.

In reference to the letter Bishop Duffy said, "The Pope has to take account of what the bishops said and to consider this. This is not a cosmetic exercise as some people seem to think. It is very serious."

Bishop Duffy added that the casualty in all this has been the truth, "The fullness of the truth must come out; everything must be laid on the table."

But he told journalists it was not their place (the bishops) to speak publicly about resignations and that it was the Pope's perogative to decide if a bishop should resign or be removed.

"That is something that will happen or not happen as a result of the overall discussion that will take place over two days with the Holy Father," he said.

On Tuesday evening, Bishop Duffy along with the other 23 bishops and Cardinal Sean Brady attended a 'month's mind' Mass for Cardinal Cahal Daly at his titular church of St Patrick's before flying home yesterday(Wednesday) to officiate at Ash Wednesday services.

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 18 Feb 10

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Owen
Unregistered User
Feb 20, 11:18
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This is a pretty good piece of advice to all Catholics [both lay and clergy] at this difficult time: http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0526.html

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