Other than the death of a child at the hands of a pedophile, nothing is more reviling than Catholic priests sexually abusing children, with the police complicit in a 30 year coverup. That is what has been going on in Ireland for 30-some years.
Priests
Two priests
are actually named in this report as pedophiles: Father Carney and Father McCarthy. Many more are reported but nameless.
This 700-page report says the church was granted immunity, and parts of the report have been redacted to "prevent pending or potential prosecutions of abusers...."
Authorities enjoyed a cosy relationship with the Church and did not enforce
the law as four archbishops, obsessed with secrecy and avoiding scandal,
protected abusers and reputations at all costs, the report said..
Hundreds of crimes against children from the 1960s to the 1990s were not
reported while police treated clergy as though they were above the law.
The report just issued with results from a three-year investigation, cites four Archbishops in Dublin with knowing about child abuse and covering it up. Three of the Archbishops are dead, John Charles McQuaid, Dermot Ryan and Kevin McNamara. The fourth is retired Cardinal Desmond Connell:
The report, launched today by the Irish justice minister, Dermot
Ahern, also concluded that the vast majority of priests turned a "blind
eye" to abuse, although some individuals did bring complaints to
superiors, which were not acted upon.
The report, commissioned by
the government, strongly criticises the Garda [police] and says senior members
of the force regarded priests as being outside their investigative
remit. The relationship between some senior gardai and priests and
bishops in Dublin was described as "inappropriate"....
The Garda Síochána is accused of connivance with the church in stifling
at least one complaint of abuse and letting the alleged perpetrator
flee the country....
The report states that senior clerical figures covered up the abuse
over nearly 30 years and that the structures and rules of the church
facilitated that cover-up. It says that state authorities facilitated
the cover-up by allowing the church to be beyond the reach of the law.
Look at these numbers:
The Murphy Commission of Inquiry into the abuse of children in
Dublin identified 320 people who complained of child sexual abuse
between 1975 and 2004. It also stated that since May 2004, 130
complaints against priests operating in the Dublin archdiocese had been
made.
The report details the cases of 46 priests guilty of abuse
as a representative sample of 102 priests within its remit. But it
concludes that there was no evidence of an organised paedophile ring in
the Dublin archdiocese, although it says there were worrying
connections. One priest admitted abusing more than 100 children.
Another said he had committed abuse every two weeks for more than 25
years.
"No evidence of an organised paedophile ring???" What kind of black souls do these holy men have? And just as astonishing is a survivor of "Irish Child Abuse" who has asked Pope Benedict to go to Ireland to apologize for the behavior of the church clergy.
John Kelly, of Irish Survivors of Child Abuse, said only a papal visit
would exonerate the worldwide church in the abuse scandals.
Perhaps that's one of the big problems here - thinking the Pope can do anything about this now. I know this is contrary to Catholic thinking, but the Pope cannot absolve these men, and he cannot repair the lives of these children. What in the world can we do about these perversions against children in the church - of any denomination, and not just in Ireland but everywhere?
In yet
another report from May 2009:
Irish Priest Child Sex Abuse
In a separate report in May, orphanages and industrial schools in the
Republic were described as places of fear, neglect and "endemic sexual
abuse".
Not only were these children abused by the Church, but even more
egregious, the police, who were sworn to protect these innocent young
ones, knew about it and looked the other way. How despicable are these priests, the police and yes...especially the Church?
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