New York Irish Catholic faithful feel let down by Church in sex abuse response

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St. Barnabas Church in the Bronx

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“I better not say the town in Leitrim but the parish priest there, who was a family friend would you believe, used to sexually abuse my young cousin after school and during church events.”

Shields, an office worker, added that her cousin has been getting counseling and has successfully managed to sue the church in Ireland.

“Well, it’s not about the money, is it? These creeps took advantage of young kids when their parents thought they were in trusty hands, and it messed them up for life,” Shields added.

The ladies said they continue to go to Mass more out of “Catholic guilt,” but they do admit they benefit somewhat from it.

“I like the sermon I have to say. It sometimes gives me hope when there is none,” said Shields.

“Me too,” agreed King. “But if I thought for one second that any of the priests I listen to at Mass were in any way responsible -- either by covering up or being an -- what would you say -- attacker, abuser I suppose -- then I wouldn’t be coming back here again,” said Shields.

Donal Tierney, a retired sanitation worker originally from Co. Limerick, goes to Mass as often as he can, but it’s bitter sweet for him.

Tierney told the Irish Voice he shed many a tear for the victims of sexual abuse at the hands of the clergy over the years.

“When the news first broke about the awful goings on I was shocked,” admitted Tierney.

“Then I was angry, and as the years went on and the news kept coming that young children were harassed, beaten and raped by these men of God I was hurt too, and that’s being honest.”

Tierney, who knows people abused by priests but said he would not discuss it, continued to go to Mass, but he has given up one thing.

“I’ve stopped going to Confession. I used to be a man who would go at least once a month because that’s what was drilled into us, but I stopped a few years ago because of all this,” he said.

“I don’t want to have a relationship with any priest, even if he is a good man, which I’m sure our parish priests here at St. Barnabas are. They are lovely men and do a great job, but I’d rather just go to Mass, listen to the word of God and then do my own thing.”

Irene Coffey, who stopped to see why Tierney was being interviewed, was more than happy to give her own opinion.

“Do you know what’s worse?” asked Coffey, a cleaning lady in her mid-sixties originally from Co. Donegal.

“The fact that the archbishops and the fellas higher up the ladder covered it up when these children came forward. They sent priests, monsters I call them, to different parishes around Ireland, and some of them ended up here in the U.S. doing exactly what they did back home, abusing children, boys and girls,” said Coffey angrily.

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