THE CATHOLIC Church in Ireland has some way to go before full transparency and accountability can be achieved in the safeguarding of children, the head of the church’s child safety watchdog has said.
Chief executive officer of the National Board for Safeguarding Children Ian Elliott said the “scriptural cycle” of confession, repentance and forgiveness was the basis for a new future, without which true healing would not occur.
“It is sad that even today and after so many painful lessons being learnt, this has not been accepted by all. There is still, in my view, some way to go before we fully achieve transparency and accountability with regard to the practice of safeguarding children within the church in Ireland today.”
He said while it was tempting to accuse the media of bias against the church “the reality of what they were reporting in many instances was shocking and needed to be exposed so that it could be dealt with.”
“Any objective observer looking at the struggles that have taken place within the Catholic Church in Ireland would be struck by the extent of the suffering and anger that has been brought to light. People were hurt that should not have been. When they had a right to expect compassion they met with indifference which further added to their hurt. Those responsible for causing the harm were not held accountable in every case. These are the ingredients of the problem.”
Speaking at the autumn launch of the Studies, a quarterly journal published by the Irish Jesuits, Mr Elliott said “the church in Ireland has not been transparent and accountable when struggling with the phenomenon of child abuse in the past . . .
“If it is to start afresh it has to become much more open and more willing to be held accountable for its actions.”