49 Comments

• IrishDragoon | Apr 22, 2012, 09:43 PM EDT

  Bishop Diarmuid Martin: YOU ROCK YOUR EMINENCE!!!!!! Glad to see that somebody in the clergy has a set! You're a cardinal to me! Bishop Diarmuid Martin FOR POPE!!!!!!!!!

• eiriamach | Mar 13, 2012, 08:35 AM EDT

  Today's news of the US Roman Catholic Church's legal assaults on SNAP tells a story. It is not a story of penitence over clerical child abuse, nor is it a story of the Church's desire to amend its ways. SNAP is the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. David Clohessy, SNAP director, has faced subpoenas and lengthy interrogations by Church lawyers. He said, "It was not a fishing expedition.... It was a fishing, crabbing, shrimping, trash-collecting, draining the pond expedition. The real motive is to harass and discredit and bankrupt SNAP, while discouraging victims, witnesses, whistle-blowers, police, prosecutors and journalists from seeking our help.”

• Collette2 | Mar 07, 2012, 02:08 PM EST

  Lokio,there would have to be skeletons with all of them. It takes only one voice in the desert to bring them out. HermitTalker is just that, a hermit. I'm darned sure he wouldn't be so forgiving if it affected him. Then maybe he was given an offer too good to refuse, an old mafia expresion.

• eiriamach | Mar 05, 2012, 06:10 PM EST

  I do not wish to oppose a homily on love and forgiveness such as hermitTalker writes. However-- and it's a 'however' that echoes down the ages from those who wrote the words of the Gospel-- a glance into history should give us some wariness of the 'religion of the heart.' Read Barneyjo's clear and well thought-out summary of the Irish church experience and ask: are love and forgiveness the *solution* to Irish Catholic Church problems? It makes people feel better to purge pain and bitterness with feelings of love and forgiveness. But the religion of the heart needs tempering with the religion of the mind and spirit. Doesn't Jesus desire also an amendment of life from penitents? Where is the RCC reform agenda, its program for sinning no more? Show me the reforms! Give me a reason to expect that the deep-rooted criminality of past decades is not still deeply rooted with a cover-up at the ready. "The Church is not a democracy" is a blunt, crude, authoritarian refusal to address the legitimate concerns of the people. It is Christian to forgive and to accept sinners because we are all sinners, but it is foolhardy to trust without a foundation of clerical responsibility to the people of God and transparency in their exercise of authority. I've seen nothing like that yet from RCC. Forgive and feel better if you wish, but please stay wary for the sake of those who have suffered.

• ciaradexy | Mar 05, 2012, 02:55 PM EST

  Hermit-would you feel the same if it was your child who was raped? Put yourself in the shoes of their parent.

• hermitTalker | Mar 05, 2012, 10:52 AM EST

  I care deeply about the abuse of children which few boys or gilrs escaped in every culture or nation ever, from every professional group and within the family. I also feel for those who are still angry at the hurt they and others endured. I also feel for those who indict all religion or Catholics only. My own recommemndation is to look boyond the flawed humanness of the abusibg teacher, cleric or "funny" grandfather/uncle/older sibling and see JESUS as the only absolute Rock and Lover whose Holy Spirit is inside each of us waiitng for us to ask for the PEACE that only He can give. We can wish our enemy sent to jail or comdemn to hell or to die roaring, or drink ourselves stupid, or attack anything that is Good- but that does not give us closure. HE who forgave our sins of hate, unforgiveness, revenge, gossip, or other "body sins" will let that happen to us IF we give permission. We have that power. You have it. Hating lets the Evil One control you.

• lokionline | Mar 04, 2012, 05:33 PM EST

  Anyone who has had personal contact with Diarmuid Martin will tell you a different tale. I went to the same school as Diarmuid Martin in Dublin.
  
  Marian College has it's own scandals that have never been addressed. A fact well known to Martin.

• ciaradexy | Mar 04, 2012, 03:49 PM EST

  Oldboreen, it was the catholic church who instilled fear and shame in the Irish people. Im adopted, my birth mother was forced to give me up. When she was in her 20s and was migrating to Australia, she found out that her sister was actually her mother. Again, the local priest instilled shame in her family and told her mother to either give her up or make up a story. People were ruled by fear and shame back then. Kinda like voodoo and witchcraft.

• McNamara31 | Mar 04, 2012, 03:08 PM EST

  RoryTrup... Did the other all have the same policy of cover up and all looking the other way along with following the Vatican's poicy of no direction for years? This is what makes Bishop Martin a man of integrity to many of us who post here at IC...Bishop Martin followed Christ as all the rest followed the misdirected Vatican and the last two Popes. Again I say, God Bless Diarmuid Martin a true man of God.

• MCCOLGAN1492 | Mar 04, 2012, 09:36 AM EST

  And we get stuck with Mr. Pomp and Circumstance in NY..... To top it off our "village idiot" has the nerve to try and get involved in how "Good Catholics" vote. Maybe he should pay some F----- Taxes before he opens his Fat Mouth!

• oldboreen | Mar 04, 2012, 06:09 AM EST

  @Barneyjo-a thoughtful and balanced response.I would not disagree with any of it, indeed I would commend it to all the posters on this site. For generations the Irish state failed miserably in terms of its social responsibility to the vulnerable. Successive governments, almost entirely men incidentally,largely drawn from the affluent middle class, were persuaded by the church that they alone were suitable guardians of the unwanted in Irish society. It seemed the perfect contract at the time-for years no one bothered to check. We know the result. An uncle was abused by a religious in the early 1920's. No one in my family listened to him.It was all "imagination" they said,it never happened. He was dismissed as being 'odd' or 'quare'-just one of thousands of ruined lives.

• JohnE67 | Mar 04, 2012, 03:49 AM EST

  Losing out on being a Cardinal is nothing...doing what you KNOW is right on this earthly coil is much more important imho...

• noeldoyle | Mar 03, 2012, 10:53 PM EST

  He is a a very brave Archbishop that stood up for the abused. But, he paid dearly and lost out on becoming a Cardinal. He deserves huge support from the Irish people. lets give him that support.

• barneyjo | Mar 03, 2012, 07:52 PM EST

  @oldboreen - with respect, it is about all you say, but so much more as far as the Irish Catholic Church is concerned. It is about the attainment and maintenance of absolute power over Irish Society; it is about the fundamental abuse of that power by the church on Irish Society, over generations; it is about denial, obfuscation, deceit,duplicitousness of standards and the perversion of the truth. That many organs of social care and justice within the Irish State failed lamentably in their role is true. The fact that many of these organs were operated by the Catholic Church at the behest of the State is equally true. And as regards over-deference, well it was the Catholic Church that insisted that deference should be a part of the relationship between the Clergy and the Faithful in the first place was it not? It was and remains the legacy of Cardinal Paul Cullen that an imbalance of power and deferenence was created and retained by Clerical Ireland. And we now know what that has led to. Bear in mind the maxim "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely" The Hierarchy and the Clergy in Ireland (and elsewhere) made choices; bad choices. They could have chosen otherwise; they did not. And we are all now living with the consequences of those poor choices; some poor souls more than others!!

• barneyjo | Mar 03, 2012, 07:50 PM EST

  @oldboreen - with respect, it is about all you say, but so much more as far as the Irish Catholic Church is concerned. It is about the attainment and maintenance of absolute power over Irish Society; it is about the fundamental abuse of that power by the church on Irish Society, over generations; it is about denial, obfuscation, deceit,duplicitous of standards and the perversion of the truth. That many organs of social care and justice within the Irish State failed lamentably in their role is true. The fact that many of these organs were operated by the Catholic Church at the behest of the State is equally true. And as regards over-deference, well it was the Catholic Church that insisted that deference should be a part of the relationship between the Clergy and the Faithful in the first place was it not? It was and remains the legacy of Cardinal Paul Cullen that an imbalance of power and deferenence was created and retained by Clerical Ireland. And we now know what that has led to. Bear in mind the maxim "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely" The Hierarchy and the Clergy in Ireland (and elsewhere) made choices; bad choices. They could have chosen otherwise; they did not. And we are all now living with the consequences of those poor choices; some poor souls more than others!!

• oldboreen | Mar 03, 2012, 07:04 PM EST

  Ciaradexy, I wouldn't even begin to make excuses for the church-one ruined child is one too many, however, we should remember that the entire Irish nation was at fault,largely due to over deference right across Irish society,an age-old culture of hiding away in industrial schools and so called children's homes and institutions, all those unfortunate kids and adults considered an embarrassment or an incumbrance. I know what I'm talking about-it happened in my extended family generations ago. It's all too easy now to lay the entire blame on the clergy and religious.Those poor souls-innocent children and vulnerable adults were dumped in these hell holes by my relatives and very possibly yours! 'Out of sight out of mind'-anywhere as long as they were hidden from the neighbours!

• ballylanger | Mar 03, 2012, 06:41 PM EST

  What part 'religion being scam that we perpetrate upon each other' do people not understand?

• ciaradexy | Mar 03, 2012, 05:24 PM EST

  Im not!! However, I am generalising in regards to an organisation that has destroyed many Irish peoples lives and had made a mess of several of my family members lives. It was endemic in Ireland. I live in Kilmainham near Goldenbridge which is the site of an old industrial school where the abuse was first uncovered. There is a graveyard there full of unmarked childrens and unmarried mothers graves. The Church covered up this abuse and moved child rapists around to different parishes. They ruined 10s of thousands of peoples lives here.

• Nicoletta | Mar 03, 2012, 05:11 PM EST

  claradexy, you are tarring every Irish Catholic priest that has ever lived, with the same brush.

• rdaumack | Mar 03, 2012, 04:54 PM EST

  Archbishop Martin is a breath of fresh air. We have to appreciate his courage. Comparing sex abuse in the church with other institutions is futile. There shouldn't be any sex abuse in these insitutions, especially those that are religious institutions. The abuse of children has been Ireland's dirty little secret for generations. It has to stop especially in the Church. We answer to God himself and there is a particular circle in hell for those clerics who are child abusers and an even hotter one for those who covered them up. Diamard Martin is our champion. Follow the way he is leading. Raymond D. Aumack

• eiriamach | Mar 03, 2012, 03:54 PM EST

  Please, enough clericalism already! I kept an open mind on Diarmuid Martin as long as I could, but Geroid4's recommendation of him tells me that Martin would be only more of the same old. It's time for the people to be "the outspoken" after too many words and too little truth from prelates. It's time for priests and prelates to listen and learn. If Archbp Martin can do those things, good enough. If not, he will be sidelined by change. These are crucial times. "In changing situations producing fresh challenges to the Gospel," the responsibility to communicate the word of God belongs to "the whole people of God. The Holy Spirit works through all members of the community, using the gifts he gives to each for the good of all" (Bishops Cormac Murphy-O’Connor and Mark Santer, Sept 1998). The "whole people" have been waiting a long time to speak. Really, it's time for clerics to be quiet and listen.... shhhushh!

• ciaradexy | Mar 03, 2012, 03:39 PM EST

  Nicoletta, I think the point is that the Church pretty much ruled this country and controlled everything that people did here. It was meant to preach the word of god. Its a misogynistic organisation that treated women appallingly over the years. It was meant to protect children, instead it raped them.

• Nicoletta | Mar 03, 2012, 03:09 PM EST

  Good article Mr O'Dowd and some salient comments too. Hermittalker makes a good point when he says that child abuse is an issue for everyone though, not just in the Church, as the media would have us think. As a teacher I worked for several years with an abuser, who was eventually sent to prison for seven years. The school district had moved him from school to school claiming they had no concrete evidence against him. His abhorrent crimes had gone on for thirty years and yet they were hushed up by the authorities.

• Gearoid4 | Mar 03, 2012, 02:56 PM EST

  Dr Martin has offered himself to be the outspoken prelate who would break ranks with the previous silences or inadequate responses of brother bishops and instill a more realistic attitude in relation to current Church travails. He has the advantage of not being included the members of the episcopate who have been associated with recent scandalous revelations. His verbal forthrightness and humble gestures present a chink of light amidst the present gloom. I hope that the recent visitations to the various Irish dioceses by the Vatican delegations will bear a lot of fruit in terms of a much needed overhaul of diocesan structures, priestly formation and a more pronounced emphasis on the place of the laity in the Church. I don't know if Archbishop Diarmuid Martin is the greatest Irishman alive at present, but he certainly is one of the most inspirational.

• mamaginnty | Mar 03, 2012, 02:28 PM EST

  correction..disgusted.

• mamaginnty | Mar 03, 2012, 02:27 PM EST

  Niall I thank the lord you did not run for president of our country, you have gone a bit mad. Or then again maybe not, you know this would get a lot of comments and keep your job going, ( the greatest living irish man ) how dare you, Martin should have spoke out 20-30 yrs ago they all knew what was going on, but no, he waited till it hit the fan then he decides to squeal and slap himself on the back in front of the irish people, but being two faced does not work for us. Niall you would do better to give support to the children and young women who found the strength to come forward. I am discusted at what you have written ( GREATEST ) my ass.

• culchiewoman | Mar 03, 2012, 01:02 PM EST

  This is the man who, in a 2004 meeting with representatives of Justice for Magdalenes just after he'd been installed Archbishop of Dublin, laughed and joked that the women who were encarcerated and slaved in Ireland's Magdalene Laundries "didn't do a very good job with my socks." Greatest living Irishman, Niall? I don't think so. He's talked a good game and tried to play the role of "peacemaker" and beleagured "friend" to Irish Catholics. Yet he chastised those of us brave enough to run screaming from the abuse, rape and evil inherent in this institution. Make no mistake: one doesn't "lapse away" from such corruption -- one definitely runs screaming. So which is it, Archbishop Martin? Giving decent people who were abused a tongue-lashing for "falling away" from evil, or hollow "healing" rituals like last year's farcical foot-washing in the Pro Cathedral? Neither is very great, in my mind (and, I'm sure, the minds of many). "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." I'm not sure Martin falls into the latter category of that quote, but I'm damned sure he's not "great".

• roryobrien | Mar 03, 2012, 12:10 PM EST

  Everybody - the sad thing is that as Irish people we actually BELIEVED. I've been living in Spain for 15 years and reluctantly have discovered, as Ernest Hemingway so rightly put it, "the Spanish are the most pagan of all." Indeed, there is no mention of sexual abuse scandals here, and Catholicism is a badge worn by the extreme right and followers of Franco.

• like2tweet | Mar 03, 2012, 12:10 PM EST

  Archbishop Martin is a profound example of a man with a conscience, not an unthinking prayer wheel and apologist for his masters

• eccles64 | Mar 03, 2012, 11:52 AM EST

  I must disagree. I am a member of ANTI CATHOLIC ACTVISTS IRELAND, a group of victims of sexual abuse by the clergy of the rotten Roman Catholic Church. These so-called "Apologies" from "Archbishop" Martin are useless without considerable financial compensation to the victims. That has not been forthcoming. The ACCAI leaders are trying to set up a meeting with Martin on their terms, not his terms. The Rotten Roman Catholic Church from the Pope down keeps on stalling, making excuses and worst of all NOT HANDING THE SEXUAL ABUSERS OVER TO THE POLICE. The Church says it will deal with the problem under "CANON LAW". Is Canon Law above the Law of any country? NO WAY. Why are so many Roman Catholics in Ireland quitting the Church in droves? Mass attendances have bropped to 2% in many Churches in Ireland. The ACCAI demands that the EVIL ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH gets out of Ireland NOW.

• SeamusMor | Mar 03, 2012, 11:27 AM EST

  The sight of His Excellency, the Archbishop of Dublin, prostrating himself before the altar and washing the feet of abuse victims says more to me than all the words written here today. The profundity of the Archbishop's mea culpa is magnified by the fact that Diarmuid Martin, the man, is utterly guiltless of the horrendous crimes for which he was atoning. God bless him! It is a shame that Niall digresses from his fine points about the Archbishop into casting aspersions on the holy men elevated to the Sacred College of Cardinals in an otherwise laudable essay on the character and virtues of God's man in Dublin.

• ciaradexy | Mar 03, 2012, 11:27 AM EST

  Curitiba, is that why the UK host Paddys day parades, have irish clubs AND have irish culture festivals? If they allow all this then the tricolour cant be associated with the IRA like you say. In fact, in all the times Ive been to England (which is once every 8 weeks or so), no one has ever mentioned the IRA to me. As for the English flag, most people in the world and even some British people associate that with murder but I dont as Im not an anti English bigot.

• christilcaugh | Mar 03, 2012, 11:20 AM EST

  It really is good to hear of such a great priest!

• SingleDonald | Mar 03, 2012, 11:02 AM EST

  Great article, Niall! I'll be sure to watch the 60 Minutes segment. It's too bad that Archbishop Martin had to be the one to wash victims' feet, as he never did abuse, or cover up the abuse of others. Yet I admire his action, as he was symbolicaly showing repentence for his fellow priests actions.

• Curitiba | Mar 03, 2012, 10:35 AM EST

  Not much point draping yourself in a Tricolor if your audience are English people, is there Ciara? Most English people automatically associate the Tricolor with the IRA.

• donal1951 | Mar 03, 2012, 10:34 AM EST

  The man is a rarity, a senior heirarch of the Catholic Church, a metropolitan archbishop. Had there been a few Archbishop Martins in the Roman Catholic Church in the USA I might still be RC instead of an Orthodox priest. Niall O'Dowd, I commend you for this editorial.

• hermitTalker | Mar 03, 2012, 10:27 AM EST

  This stuff must have come from the Curragh in Kildare where they train horses. Abp Martin is not referring to more clergy abuse, he is saying it is an issue for everyone, where the Kenny government has still not passed a law to protect all children from parents, teachers and coaches. There is absolutely no evidence he is not liked in the Vatican, this Pope named him to Dublin. There are two retired cardinals in Ireland already, one alive and well as archbishop of Armagh, the nation never had two cardinals. The failures of the past are well taken care of now and of course the Gospel also opposes adultery, fornication, stealing, cheating on exams/tests and lying. The Church has been dealing with loss of members and clergy and falling Mass attendance for decades before the clergy abuse scandal broke open. What about the excellent clergy, bishops included,brothers, nuns and laity at all levels who are faithful, many heroic, but the media seem to focus on the failures and keep it going.

• ciaradexy | Mar 03, 2012, 10:00 AM EST

  I like Mr Martin. He seems like a very nice man. He wrote a personal letter to me when i officially left the catholic church and I believe he is sincere. I just hope he gets some peace himself over the child abuse scandal because he is obviously very upset and shaken over it. It takes a real man to admit to that.

• CelticQueenUSA | Mar 03, 2012, 09:55 AM EST

  GOD BLESS YOU AND KEEP YOU SAFE

• CelticQueenUSA | Mar 03, 2012, 09:55 AM EST

  This man is COURAGEOUS to go with the TRUTH when others would rather irnore this CRITICAL ISSUE

• ciaradexy | Mar 03, 2012, 09:49 AM EST

  Curitiba, I would imagine that something like that would require a referendum but i do in fact know some people who would be ok with that and theyre perfectly entitled to feel the way they do. I have yet to see an Aussie draped in a union flag so I dont see why you think it would happen here.

• biggles008 | Mar 03, 2012, 09:37 AM EST

  Archbishop Diarmuid Martin is not afraid of the truth and will go out on a limb for the people of Ireland, and elsewhere.

• Springfield9 | Mar 03, 2012, 09:29 AM EST

  He might be the one to put up the "Out of Business" sign

• Curitiba | Mar 03, 2012, 09:00 AM EST

  So will you Ciara if your government takes up Tom Elliot's generous offer!

• Curitiba | Mar 03, 2012, 08:59 AM EST

  Who, John Cusack?

• ciaradexy | Mar 03, 2012, 08:53 AM EST

  Curitiba,Which is why they drape themselves in the Union flag on stage.

• hollabackgurl | Mar 03, 2012, 08:53 AM EST

  His unwillingness to compromise his principals or his humanity in the face of profound pressure from the Vatican makes him remarkable. He won't promote their bogus PR exercises when he knows that they're meaningless. He must be the loneliest man in Ireland. He's a legend.

• Curitiba | Mar 03, 2012, 08:42 AM EST

  Oh, and to show solidarity with my Irish American brothers and sisters from across the pond, John Cusack is a hero of mine as well.

• Curitiba | Mar 03, 2012, 08:40 AM EST

  A great man indeed, but not the greatest living Irishman. That accolade goes to Morrissey of the Smiths.Followed closely by either of the Gallagher brothers of Oasis.