The scale of child sex abuse by priests in Ferns diocese would not have been believed before the inquiry began, writes Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent
Hercules must have felt despair as he began the task of removing filth from the Augean stables. They were occupied by 3,000 cattle and hadn't been cleaned for 30 years. Many Irish Catholics would have felt like that yesterday as they listened to details of the first State inquiry report into how an Irish diocese handled clerical child sex abuse allegations
The Ferns inquiry was the first into a Catholic Church body in Ireland since the State was founded in 1922. It established that a total of 26 priests in that small rural diocese had been accused of child sex abuse by over 100 complainants. The scale of the problem in Ferns would not have been believed before the inquiry began. That alone proves its worth.
It is also a tribute to Mr Justice Frank Murphy and his team that they succeeded in engendering such confidence among people abused by Ferns priests that many who had never approached any State or church agency before were willing to recall their experiences for the inquiry.
The figures uncovered support a view that there was something deeply rotten, deeply dysfunctional about the clerical culture in Ferns, and for some time. The inquiry established that 248 priests had been ordained for Ferns since 1932, the year the oldest man accused became a priest. It indicates an alarming statistic, that almost 10 per cent of Ferns priests have been accused of child abuse.
Let's put that in context.
A study for US bishops established that from 1950 to 2002, 4 per cent of priests there - 4,450 out of 110,000 - were accused of abuse. It was supposed that the US had a unique difficulty in this area.
But further, in Ireland as elsewhere, it is acknowledged that older people - those still alive from the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s - rarely make allegations of clerical abuse. Indeed, the great majority of the allegations concern the years since the 1960s, and such has been the case where the Ferns priests are concerned.
In other words, the 10 per cent figure is higher - it could be up to 12 per cent - if one just addresses clerical sex abuse allegations in Ferns from the last 40 years.
As disturbing is the realisation that the 21 priests against whom allegations were fully investigated - five came to the inquiry's attention just recently - almost all had a connection with St Peter's College, Wexford, either as seminarians or as teachers.
The report says: "Within a random five-year period selected by the inquiry, 10 priests who were in St Peter's have come to the attention of the inquiry as being the subject of child sexual abuse allegations."
You have to wonder just what has been going on in the other 25 Catholic dioceses in Ireland where the clerical child sex abuse issue is concerned? What would a State inquiry unearth if it was to investigate?
It can only do so where 19 other of those dioceses are concerned (three are wholly in the North and three more are cross-Border).
Of the 19 we are likely to find out next what went on in Dublin, the largest diocese in the country. Legislation is already in place for an inquiry into the handling of abuse allegations in the Dublin archdiocese, and currently structures are being put in place to allow the inquiry begin.
Already we have indications of what to expect from the Dublin inquiry. In an interview with The Irish Times in May 2004, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin disclosed that over the 50 years since 1954, 59 priests of the archdiocese had allegations of abuse made against them. Of the 59, seven have been convicted in the courts (compared to the two in Ferns) while 18 are deceased (compared to eight in Ferns).
Putting those figures in context Dr Martin pointed out that since 1954, 1,450 priests have served in Dublin.
You may notice something remarkable about that. It means that, according to records in the Dublin archdiocese, approximately 4 per cent of priests there have been accused of child sex abuse - precisely the same number as have been accused in the US. Coincidence? Probably.
But strangely, before the Ferns inquiry report, there was little reason to assume that the number of priests there against whom allegations of child abuse had been made would be higher than low single figures.
What the Ferns inquiry has made clear is that once an investigation begins in Dublin, and if its investigating team can engender confidence among complainants, it is almost a certainty that the number of priests accused in Dublin will be much higher by the time the final report there is completed.
Then there is Raphoe diocese, as well as Cork and Ross, where there have been many known cases of abuse by priests. But those are just two. There is hardly a diocese which has not had to address this problem. Perhaps the Herculean task the State faces is extending its Dublin inquiry - for which the legislative mechanisms are available - to include all dioceses within its jurisdiction.
It is almost an imperative that this happens for the health of the State as much as of the church, which has to date seemed incapable of addressing this issue adequately on its own. Above all, it is probably most imperative for those unknown complainants out there who, like the previously unknown complainants in Ferns, are entitled to the cathartic experience of telling their story, too.
But yesterday's report went further than anyone would have expected where the church in general is concerned. The inquiry employed an expert group of six therapists with specific experience of working with priests who have sexually abused children.
They identified "the relative loneliness and isolation of the diocesan priesthood as presenting particular challenges for young men". Further, and most unexpectedly, "the expert group was unanimous in its view that the vow of celibacy contributed to the problem of sexual abuse in the church".
This conclusion would coincide with the views of most commonsense Catholics, and will just add further to their frustration at the announcement by Pope Benedict last Sunday that the celibacy rule is to stay.
Here at home at least it appears clear from yesterday's report that lessons have been learned by the church where this terrible issue is concerned. Bishop Éamonn Walsh was exemplary in his co-operation.
There was a glitch towards the end when a woman approached the inquiry in August with complaints of abuse by two priests. It was found there were records of the complaints on diocesan files. An independent audit of all the diocesan files was then agreed between the Ferns authorities and the inquiry team. It uncovered more files relating to previously unknown complaints against a total of eight priests, three of whom were deemed not relevant to the inquiry.
Dr Walsh explained that the files had not been discovered previously because of oversight and, mainly because of his wholehearted co-operation to that point, the inquiry accepted his explanation.
Since he came to the diocese on the resignation of Bishop Brendan Comiskey in 2002, Dr Walsh has been stringent in insisting on the paramount safety of children, to the annoyance of some of his priests. But he is not for turning.
In Dublin Archbishop Martin has been unequivocal in his commitment to rooting out the details and the problem there. Yesterday he described as "unforgivable" the inaction of previous years in Ferns and urged those with concerns about any person working in the Dublin diocese to report them to its child protection service.
"The problem of sexual abuse by priests will never be resolved until it is established exactly what happened," he said.
His statement is entirely consistent with hiswords and actions since he arrived in Dublin.
Both Archbishop Martin and Bishop Walsh have grasped the essential fact that, before those abused, the church, the State and the many decent innocent priests can progress into a healthier future, it is first necessary to face up to the difficult task of exorcising all details of what has gone on in Irish dioceses where clerical child sex abuse is concerned over the past 40-50 years.
There is no going forward without delving back. Yesterday was just a beginning of the beginning. The beginning of the end is some time off yet.
Hercules was given a day and succeeded in clearing out the Augean stables. Dealing with the clerical child sex abuse issue in Ireland will take a great deal more time.