TAOISEACH'S SPEECH:ANOTHER CATHOLIC bishop has come out in support of Enda Kenny's uprecedented address to the Dáil on Wednesday in which he delivered a stinging attack on the Vatican.
Bishop of Down and Connor Noel Treanor told The Irish Times last night the Taoiseach had “accurately reflected the dismay and anger felt by many, many Catholics in Ireland”.
Bishop of the second largest Catholic diocese on the island, he added: “However, all of us, particularly political and religious leaders, have a responsibility now to take time to pause and reflect on the implications of the Cloyne report and the implications of the non-implementation of guidelines and principles to which we have all signed up.”
Bishop Treanor said yesterday he was “shocked and devastated by the content of the Cloyne report and by the failure to implement the basic national guidelines imposed by the church within that diocese. Let me state once again that the protection of and care for our children is our absolute priority. The events described in the Cloyne report simply should not have happened.”
He said there had been “failings in the past within the church and the State which have led to unnecessary and indefensible suffering for children through the years. The church and State need to ensure that the deficiencies highlighted recently do not happen again. This can be best achieved when the church and State work in a co-operative way.”
He added there was “no doubt that there have been significant improvements and developments to the benefit of children and young people” in recent years. He said he hoped reviews of dioceses by the National Board for Safeguarding Children would “assist in showing that the work within dioceses is providing . . . a better and safer environment for everyone.”
Bishop of Dromore John McAreavey said on Thursday the Taoiseach’s address “accurately reflects the deep anger of the people of Ireland at the contents of the Cloyne report and underlines the huge challenges ahead for the Catholic Church as a whole.”
Auxiliary bishop of Armagh archdiocese Gerard Clifford said that while he was “taken aback at the force and wide sweeping nature of the Taoiseach’s address in the Dáil” he acknowledged “the reason for the intensity of feeling expressed given the awful findings of the report.”
