Catholics in the Dublin diocese are to be consulted on how the church can improve its child protection structures and "learn the lessons of Ferns".
In a letter to priests this week, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said the diocese must now "take all the steps needed to learn the hard lessons which come from a more considered reading of the Ferns report.
"People want not just to hear words of regret but to see concrete actions being taken regarding the protection of children in the future."
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin
Dr Martin has asked priests to convene special meetings of Parish Pastoral Councils this month. These groups will study the recommendations of the Ferns report and put forward ideas on how the diocese can provide better protection for children.
Priests have been given an outline of how existing child protection structures operate in the diocese. Lay people will have an input into what further structures and supports should be put in place through their parish councils.
It is proposed that similar meetings be held with the boards of management of Dublin schools.
Dr Martin said he appreciated this would appear as an added burden on priests at a very busy time of the year, but he said the matter could not be allowed to "drift along.
"People want and deserve to see concrete action. We have an obligation to take that action and to demonstrate how much the diocese at every level values the protection of children."
The Labour Party today blamed a culture of secrecy in the Catholic Church allowed the abuse of many children over four decades in Co Wexford.
Liz McManus told the Labour Youth National Conference that a democracy which failed its vulnerable young people needed fundamental and radical reform, and said the Ferns Report was a case in point.
She said: "The drastic failures within the culture of the Catholic Church and the culture of secrecy and a fear of causing scandal contributed to the abuse of so many children in Wexford.
"Many of the abusers in the Ferns Report were not only priests and thus respected members of the community, but many were also in positions of power and responsibility within the school structures itself, " she said.