A survey published by the Irish Catholic Church today shows over nine out of every ten people believe it has been damaged by child sex abuse scandals.
The survey into attitudes within both the clergy and the general public, entitled Time to Listen: Confronting Child Sexual Abuse by the Catholic Clergy in Ireland,reveals that over half of the 1,000 members of the public questioned feel this damage is permanent.
A total of 77 per cent believe the church mismanaged the crisis, while 36 per cent said child sex abuse has affected their personal religious practices. Only 42 per cent trusted the Catholic Church to safeguard children entrusted to its care while 40 per cent believed in the church's ability to handle problems with its own clergy.
Among the clergy, a mere 45 per cent of bishops said they were satisfied with the way the church handled sex abuse cases. Many members of the clergy interviewed reported being ashamed by the scandal, and others even admitted to attempting to conceal their identities in public for fear of recriminations.
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Fear of false allegations and low morale were also reported among priests.
The report finds that the public had overestimated the proportion of clerical child sex abuse and underestimated the number of clergy convicted of these crimes.
There is some solace for the church in the fact that slightly over half reported satisfaction with priests today and 47 per cent said priests were better today compared to the past. Compared to the satisfaction level with individual priests, satisfaction with the Church more generally was lower, at 44 per cent compared to 54 per cent.
Over 90 per cent of the public believe in God and 72 per cent believe priests had been unfairly judged as a result of abuse revelations.
The Archbishop Of Armagh, Most Rev Seán Brady, said the survey makes "painful" reading" for all involved in the Catholic Church. He apologised to all victims of abuse and described the actions of those responsible as "abhorrent".
"The Bishops are committed, with the help of all within the Church and in society, to bring healing and hope to those who feel betrayed and hurt," he added. "The work of the Child Protection Office of the Irish Bishops' Conference, the Bishops' Committee on Child Protection, and the Working Group on Child Protection, must continue with great determination and urgency."
Bishop John McAreavey welcomed the report and promised to implement all of the 19 recommendations it makes to address the prevention of child sexual abuse by clergy.
"Notwithstanding the report's acknowledgment that when dealing with abusers in the past, bishops followed — in good faith — the best psychiatric advice available at the time, clearly in relation to clerical sexual abuse we failed many young people over too long a period," he said.
"For what has happened we are truly sorry and while we cannot undo the wrongs of the past, we can use this research to help us deal with victims of abuse with understanding, compassion and sensitivity."
The survey was commissioned by the Irish Bishop's Conference in 2001. Results were collated following telephone polls of 1,000 people and 48 face-to-face interviews, many of which were with victims of abuse or their families.
A number of convicted abusers and their colleagues were also questioned. The third phase of the survey involved a postal questionnaire, which was answered by 100 diocesan and religious delegates and 35 bishops.
