The North's Police Ombudsman, Nuala O'Loan, has criticised the Catholic Church for its handling of marriage annulments and its treatment of priests accused of sex abuse.
Speaking at the Croke Park conference, she said she knew a woman who has waited 10 years for the annulment of a marriage which lasted less than six months.
This was because the Church "failed to create the structures and mechanisms which would result in justice," she said.
There was also injustice inherent in the church's child protection rules, which did not always reflect an understanding that people were innocent until proven guilty in the way they dealt with accused priests, she said. This applied particularly where men were accused of offences 20 and 30 years ago,which are harder to investigate.
"Priests who are accused usually have to leave their homes and go away into what is effectively a desert," she said.
Where allegations were vague or changed rapidly when recounted, "it is wrong that men should be deprived of their character and life".
Police against whom allegations were false or unproven went back to professional life.
Priests "against whom evidence is simply not to be found will nevertheless not be permitted to return to work," she said.
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said that a presbytery was a place of work as well as the priest's home and, when accused, he had to leave to ensure the protection of children.
Any priest proved innocent went back to work. The problem was where there was no acquittal or where there were serious concerns.
Mrs O'Loan said it was very difficult to prove a negative and, anyhow, that was "not the language of love".
