This is the original version of an Op ed written for The Independent newspaper. An edited version was published in the March 9th edition of the paper, link here. The recent revelations that the brother of Pope Benedict XVI may be called upon to testify in the growing child sexual abuse scandal in the German Catholic Church has led to questions about just how much the current Pope knew about these allegations of child abuse. Whilst such questions are understandable, a more valid, and in my view more revealing, line of enquiry would be to examine the extent of the pontiff’s... [Read more]
I had a call from Sinead O’Connor last night who wanted to communicate her own strong sense of outrage at the call from Bishop of Ferns, Dr Dennis Brennan for parishioners to donate money to meet the financial costs of that diocese’s negligence in dealing with clerical child sexual abuse. Here is what Sinead wanted to say: “Please allow me to express my astonishment upon reading the statement made on the evening of March 1st by the bishop of Ferns, Denis Brennan. His statement attempts to dictate to us in the same way the inquisition did, how christians... [Read more]
A comment piece written for the Irish Daily Mail in response to reports that the Bishop of Ferns wants parishioners to contribute to the ongoing costs arising from the negligent handling of clerical sexual abuse by the Roman Catholic Church authorities. In 1998 I first heard that the Diocese of Ferns had known that Fr Sean Fortune had sexually assaulted children as a seminarian. The story was that he had assaulted a group of boy scouts whilst studying for the priesthood in St Peters College in Wexford. The assault was reported to the church and scouting authorities. The... [Read more]
The following is an essay I contributed to a book ‘What being Catholic means to me’, published by Columba Press last year. I’m not catholic anymore. I never formally quit the church or anything, I just came to realise that I was no longer part of it. I didn’t write to a bishop or the Pope, didn’t go through a defined process through which I renounced my allegiance to the “one true holy roman apostolic church”. I reckon that if my entry by proxy as an infant was valid, then my mature and considered decision to leave was certainly at least as valid... [Read more]
Has it struck anyone else as obscene that in their rush to rationalise the abject failure of the Pope to properly address the deliberate cover up of the rape and abuse of children by Roman Catholic Priests, Irish Bishops seem to be suggesting that victims must be patient and wait for the Vatican’s grand design for our healing to be revealed? In a letter from Bishop of Ferns Dr Denis Brennan which was read at masses in the Diocese, Dr Brennan asserted that the visit by Bishops was only one part of a process designed to bring healing to victims. Well excuse me, but since... [Read more]
