Sir, - Perhaps Sally Ann O'Donovan (December 2nd) has not read the guidelines of the Irish Bishops' Conference, Child Sexual Abuse: Framework for a Church Response, published almost three years ago (January 1996). The first statement in that document is the following:
"The Church has always had its limitations and sinfulness but child sexual abuse by priests and religious is one of the saddest manifestations of this reality. Such exploitation of the vulnerability of children is a betrayal of trust of the gravest kind.
"We express our shame and sorrow that such incidents of abuse have occurred. On behalf of the bishops, priests and religious we apologise to all who have suffered because of sexual abuse inflicted on them by priests and religious. We recognise the hurt and sense of isolation which those who have been victims of child sexual abuse by priests and religious have experienced."-Yours, etc., Jim Cantwell,
Director, Catholic Press and Information Office, Dublin.