Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster, whose parents were from Ireland and who is a regular visitor, has said he is sad at the scandals which have hit the Irish Catholic Church "and which have affected, diminished, the real message and witness of our faith."
In a wide-ranging address on the theme "The Church in Our World" at Holy Cross College Clonliffe, Dublin, yesterday, during a seminar organised by the Irish Catholic, he said he was "only too well aware of all the difficulties and the shame that has occurred with the Catholic Church in Ireland, particularly with regard to child abuse by a tiny number of priests, but also of other things that have tainted the Gospel message we are here to proclaim."
He continued: "Your experience of desolation and shame and the anger it has engendered in some is not unique. The whole church feels it, both because of similar mistakes that have been made in the past, and also because of a communion of solidarity and shared responsibility." There was no question of trying to excuse the mistakes of the past, he said.
"We must learn from our mistakes. Children must never again be placed at risk or those who would bring harm to them be left in the ministry. And the church must take seriously her vocation to continuously reform herself 'ecclesia semper reformanda'," he said.
"And there will always be a need for forgiveness. But there must always be a willingness to forgive," he said. Referring to the development of a "name-and-shame" culture, he cautioned "those in positions of responsibility in the media and we who read and digest their output not to forget that mercy and truth go hand in hand."
Looking "across the water" at the church, and Christianity in Ireland, he reflected that it "will not be as it was before. I rejoice in that. If the church becomes too powerful its real message and gift can be obscured. The church in our time does suffer from division, caused by misunderstanding, intolerance and a loss of the warmth of charity," he said. But there was hope. "The present sufferings of the Catholic Church over these past years, will have and do have a purifying effect, so that she will emerge stronger, more evangelical."
There were three aspects of the Irish church's history and experience, past and present, which he hoped and prayed would not be forgotten. "They lie deep in the heart of Irish culture, they are the rock from which you are hewn and you should always be proud of, thankful for, and faithful to, each one of them," he said.
They were: "the family, the crucible of love and fidelity that cements us." The second was "the faith which is your bedrock and the ground on which you and your young people stand as they look for hope in their lives." The third was "that real map - your spiritual and moral compass - which alone can help you to steer a true course through the moral dilemmas posed by our increasingly complex world," he said.
Speaking to The Irish Times, the Cardinal admitted that he too had made mistakes where the issue of clerical child sex abuse was concerned. In 1983, as Bishop of Arundel and Brighton, he had appointed a known paedophile to a chaplaincy at an airport where the man subsequently offended. "I should not have appointed him ... all one can do is apologise" and admit ignorance of the gravity of the issue at the time and the danger to children, he said.
