PETER DE ROSA,
Madam, - After recently meeting with Cardinal Connell, abuse victims Marie Collins and Ken Reilly dropped their call for his resignation. I'm pleased that the Cardinal has finally promised to end his denial and do what the average person would have done instantly as his or her civic duty.
In the 15 years it has taken him to accept the blindingly obvious distinctions between right and wrong in the area of clerical paedophilia, many children have been needlessly abused. Many victims have endured the unendurable with no-one believing them or binding up their wounds.
The same question has to be put to Connell as to Law in Boston: How can you who largely created this appalling problem dare present yourself as part of the solution? - Yours, etc.,
PETER DE ROSA, Ashford, Co Wicklow.
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Madam, - What a bright start to the New Year was your photo of Marie Collins, Ken Reilly and Cardinal Connell (December 31st), all smiling, It seemed to indicate that Church leaders who are tempted to think of themselves exclusively as the "teaching Church" now recognise (with Cardinal Newman and Vatican II) that they are also part of the "learning Church", and are now ready to acknowledge that the laity in their own way are part of the "teaching Church". We are all integral parts of the Body of Christ, and we hope and pray that this vision which is at the core of Vatican II theology will be given more concrete expression in the years to come.
Popes, cardinals and bishops who gave the impression that their primary concern was protection of the Church's image when dealing with sex abuse scandals, might reflect on the example of that gospel-centred supreme pastor, Pope John XXIII.
On the night of the opening day of the Second Vatican Council, a great torchlight procession wended its way across Rome to St. Peter's Square, where Pope John came to his window and addressed the crowd in words from the heart. "Even the moon may be said to have hastened on this evening," he told them. "When you return home you will find your children: Caress them and tell them 'This is a caress from the Pope'. You will find some tears to dry. Speak words of comfort to the afflicted . Let the afflicted know that the Pope is with his sons and daughters, especially in hours of sadness and bitterness ... It is a brother who speaks to you, a brother who, by the will of Our Lord, has become a father. But fatherhood and brotherhood are both of them gifts of God. Everything is! Everything!"
Such an attitude might put a brake on the temptation to reach for the book of canon law. - Yours, etc.,
Fr. SEAN FAGAN S.M., 89, Lower Leeson St. Dublin 2.