Madam, – I refer to the sweeping statement of James Quinn (April 19th) in which he accuses 99 per cent of the priests of Ireland of supreme cowardice for not speaking out on child abuse. His presumption and that of other correspondents is that most of them knew about it and did nothing. This is untrue.
I was involved in retreats and spiritual conferences in more than half the Irish dioceses in the 1970s and early 1980s. I shared many confidential matters with a huge number of diocesan priests and also religious. Many issues were raised. Never once did I hear a word about child sexual abuse among the clergy. For whatever reason, I was totally unaware of this evil. Had I been aware, I would have spoken out and the vast majority of priests were in the same situation.
If child sexual abuse by clergy, however abominable and deserving of exposure, accounts for about 3 per cent of all abuse, what about the other 97 per cent, in homes, in schools, in clubs and elsewhere? Are your correspondents who accuse the priests of cowardly silence also accusing parents, teachers and others of the same conspiracy of silence? Where is the focus on the wider picture, or is the Catholic Church just an easy target?
We all want to see an end to this evil in our midst, but we gain nothing by false assumptions and sweeping judgments. – Yours, etc,