RITE AND REASON: Have the media been too harsh on the Catholic Church? Catherine McCann believes so and that innocent clergy are being tarred by negative publicity.
Some people are concerned that certain issues about the Catholic Church and particular individuals have been distorted by unbalanced media reporting.
For instance the negative reaction to Myra Hindley's death, not dissimilar to Brendan Smyth's, showed a fundamental dismissal of human rights. Prisoners have a right to be respected as they undergo their sentence, leave prison, and on their death. The old adage "love the sinner but hate the sin" seems to have been forgotten.
The horrific crime of child abuse is a huge problem yet Irish society has largely used Church personnel as its scapegoat.
Only 1 per cent of known sex abusers are clergy and the percentage of clerics that have sexually abused minors is 1.5 per cent. Sadly the other 98 per cent are made to suffer despite the good work many are presently doing.
On occasions clergy have been spat at and some positively demonised, even by one of our poets on radio. Some of the high level of anger against those in official Church positions is understandable.
It is partly a repressed anger existing over decades and arising from the hierarchical Church tending to operate from a position of domination rather than service; where authoritarianism ruled and collegial practice was unusual.
In recent times the media has done a service in exposing "cover-ups" within society. However, the reporting has at times been unbalanced.
Take for instance orphanages. It was society that created the need for these. Many children there were not orphans but children who were neglected. This is documented by court orders.
The regime within orphanages was at times harsh. Underfunding and low staffing levels was the norm.
I personally know people who have suffered profound pain before, during, and since their time in the orphanages and feel intensely for these people. My anger is at our society for not looking at the root causes that perpetuated this situation. Due to the media we are beginning to look at those stark days - stark times for many people.
Another area being exposed is the Magdalen laundries. The opening scene in the film The Magdalen Sisters showed clearly that it was families who "put" their children into such places.
An excellent Would You Believe programme (Oct 2nd last) Doyle versus Ireland highlighted the Supreme Court decision of 1955 which allowed families take their children home from institutions. Few availed of the opportunity.
Prime Time and other investigative media have rightly exposed failures on the part of some Church authorities. However, the media has sometimes moved beyond naming wrongdoing to stigmatising and even demonising people.
This has occurred even at the allegation stage as well as after prison sentences were completed.
Regarding orphanages, we have yet to hear the accused's story. In the privacy of the Leffoy Commission those accused are being given the right to defend themselves. Until the findings of this commission are completed and made public we are in the dark.
There are now two sets of victims/survivors. First and foremost are the children. Documentaries such as Dear Daughter and States of Fear gave an insight into what happened to some children as did articles in the print media.
The other side of this story remains unheard. Our present climate of negative and belittling attitudes towards the Church, coupled with a culture of what is deemed politically correct, makes it difficult for clergy to speak in a way they can be heard.
As a result we have a second set of victims, the clergy. Care and understanding are needed for both sets of victims. Attempting to understand the situation from a Christian perspective can offer some light.
One contributing factor could lie in a limited, childhood image of God being carried into adult life, as well as an impoverished understanding of the Church. God as revealed to us in Jesus is a God of love.
He showed mercy and forgiveness as the deepest expression of his way of love. An appropriate response to sustained hurt and betrayal etc is anger, yet the demanding challenge and gift of the Christian faith can, over time, lead to the beginnings of a movement towards forgiveness and away from the personally harmful feelings of resentment and vindictiveness.
The Church is about communion where people are united with God and each other, particularly at the level of the heart as opposed to structures.
The Christian church is an inclusive community that believes in eliminating any divide between "them and us". It is a communion of saints and sinners where everyone is as worthy of respect as every other human person.
Catherine McCann is a counsellor, gardener and author. Her most recent work was Saying Yes to Life, a Way to Wisdom.