News


Home Page > News > Irish church pledge $14.1 million in compensation for clerical abuse victims - POLL

Irish church pledge $14.1 million in compensation for clerical abuse victims - POLL

Bishops plan counseling, training and fasting to 'repair the breach of trust

By
CATHY HAYES,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer
Published Wednesday, March 23, 2011, 8:26 AM
Updated Wednesday, March 23, 2011, 9:29 AM

print this article Print
email this articleE-mail
comment on article 9 Comments
 

Primate Sean Brady
Primate Sean Brady


IrishCentral.com Poll

Are the bishops plans going to be enough to make up to the clerical abuse victims?

Yes.


No.


Guinness PubFinder Ad

Read more: Dramatic scenes as Archbishops wash abuse victim’s feet - SEE POLL

The Catholic Bishops of Ireland have pledged to spend $14.1 million on a counseling service dedicated to those who were abused by pedophile priests. This was just one of the several initiative outlined in the 16-page letter entitled "Towards Healing and Renewal".

The letter from the Irish Conference of Catholic Bishops outlines the ways that Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady hopes to "repair the breach of trust that has taken place".

These steps include the $14.1 million counseling service for victims and their family in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Britain. Also there will be additional child protection training and continued co-operation with police and social service with relation to allegations about the church. Also there will now be dedicated spiritual support for Catholics who lost their faith due to the ordeal.

The Bishops of Ireland also plan to fast once a month to try to make amends for their failure to respond to the crisis effectively.

The Guardian  reports Cardinal Brady as saying "As a result of the grievous wrong of abuse, for many survivors their faith in God and the church has been profoundly damaged…A colossal breach of trust occurs when a child is abused. If the abuser is a priest, or religious, then an even greater betrayal has been perpetrated.

''The mismanagement of abuse allegations by church authorities compounded this damage. As we continue on our journey of renewal, the church resolves to repair the breach of trust which has taken place. We ask humbly that we be given this opportunity.''

The Bishop's new report also marks the anniversary for the pastoral letter from Pope Benedict XVI. The Pope apologized to victims of abuse in Ireland in the letter and announced the an Apostolic Visitation of the Catholic dioceses and religious orders.

Read more: Dramatic scenes as Archbishops wash abuse victim’s feet - SEE POLL


 

​
Nster.com
print this article Print
email this articleE-mail


9 Comments

See all comments

Advocate | Mar 26, 2011, 11:50 AM EDT
...and just where, in the Scriptures, does it tell us that clergy has the right to use Tighe's & Offerings to pay for this issue? This in and of itself, is an abomination unto Yahweh/God. Where do YOU think this $14million came from? IF Yahweh doesn't approve of this, stop furnishing the money, your money to pay for indiviual criminals and their endless lawsuits.... Am I wrong? Really?

Report abuse

curranart | Mar 24, 2011, 10:07 AM EDT
Not a word about the abused in the North, oh yeh its being looked into.

Report abuse

Carroll09 | Mar 24, 2011, 05:25 AM EDT
Bernadett- the Murphy Commission invited, by way of an extensive media campaign, complainants to contribute to the work of the commission. Murphy 2.12 says: "All of those who came forward who appeared to be within the Commission's remit were interviewed by the Commission's counsel and many gave formal evidence to the Commission".

Report abuse

Bernadett | Mar 23, 2011, 06:31 PM EDT
talking of the murphy report, anybody know if the victims that are talked about in the report were even interviewed

Report abuse

barneyjo | Mar 23, 2011, 05:33 PM EDT
....And of course it also depends on the size of the iceberg!!

Report abuse

Bernadett | Mar 23, 2011, 04:48 PM EDT
I dont think i can take much more of this, fasting what next.

Report abuse

barneyjo | Mar 23, 2011, 12:18 PM EDT
Unfortunately Ferns is only one diocese; we await reports from others througout Ireland. And while Ferns may be an exemplar at this stage, it would seem that few other diocese are close to matching the Ferns model.

Report abuse

Carroll09 | Mar 23, 2011, 10:39 AM EDT
No, Portia- child protection is NOT the job of the Gardai; investigation and prosecution is. We all have a duty in this regard. If we leave child protection solely to the Gardai I guarantee that we will be reading another horrific Murphy Report in 20 years' time (indeed, we may face many such reports when we face up to the reality that most abuse actually occurs within the family unit - clerical abuse cases, terrible though they are, are only the tip of the iceberg) - one only has to glance at the Murphy and Ryan reports to see how the civil authorities frequently turned a blind eye over many decades with regard to child protection. Thankfully the Church - and I have seen it first-hand in many instances and in various dioceses - is taking child protection very seriously...indeed the diocese of Ferns, for example - where some of the most horrific abuse took place - is now serving as a model even for non-Church bodies for how child protection policies should be implemented.

Report abuse

Portia777 | Mar 23, 2011, 09:23 AM EDT
Sure what is it, only OUR OWN MONEY BACK? Councilling- sure more business if they train their own kind.No child protection is the job of the Gardai.

Report abuse

 


Feedbox
IrishCentral Mobile QR code


Log into IrishCentral with your Facebook account

or sign-in directly

E-Mail:
Password:
 Remember me Forgot my password
Not a member? Register Now!
print this article Print
email this articleE-mail