CHURCH WATCHDOG:SOME CATHOLIC Church leaders are still not giving full commitment to implementing the best child-protection practices, the head of the church's watchdog on the issue said last night.
Ian Elliott, chief executive of the church’s National Board for Safeguarding Children, said “the vast majority” of Catholic bishops and religious superiors were very much committed” to implementing strong practices. But “there are still a few who have not yet arrived at that position”.
Mr Elliott said it was “a changing situation” and expressed the hope “the tragedy of Cloyne” would assist in this. The board has completed an audit of child-protection practices in three dioceses, he said, and “completed the fieldwork” in three more. Reports on these should be completed by the end of this month, he said.
The findings of such audits/reports can only be published with the permission of the relevant bishop. “The position of the board is that it strongly recommends that the reports be published,” he said, and this was “actively being discussed”.
The Irish Timesunderstands a factor in the reluctance on the part of some bishops to publish results of audits was being influenced by their desire not to pressurise more reluctant colleagues into doing so.
Where the Cloyne report was concerned, Mr Elliott worried about the effect it was having on the thousands of safeguarding volunteers across Ireland. Their work was “very important and very valued”, he said.
