Vatican ‘has blood on hands’ over Smyth affair, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin calls for establishment of independent Fr Brendan Smyth inquiry

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin calls for establishment of independent Fr Brendan Smyth inquiry

Sunday, 6 May 2012

The Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, has called for an independent international commission of inquiry into the crimes of Fr Brendan Smyth, the late paedophile priest.

Dr Martin said such an inquiry was owed to victims and that it would be in the public interest that the full story, and not bits and pieces, should come out….
http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0506/archbishop-martin-calls-for-smyth-inquiry.html

Vatican ‘has blood on hands’ over Smyth affair
By Claire O’Sullivan
Saturday, May 05, 2012

An American lawyer who was abused by Fr Brendan Smyth has said that the Vatican has “blood on its hands” for its failure to inform Irish Church authorities that it had censured Smyth for abuse in the United States years before the 1975 secret inquiry.

Helen McGonigle has learnt that the Vatican’s Congregation for the Religious issued a decree that Smyth wasn’t allowed to take Confession and was to be supervised following abuse complaints made in the late 60s.

Yet, in 1975 the Bishop of Kilmore and the Abbot of Killnacrott agreed a similar censure of Smyth — seemingly oblivious that a similar reprimand had already been handed down.

“Why didn’t the bishop or the abbot inform the Papal Nuncio of this second censure? Why weren’t they informed by the Vatican of the original censure? It is very clear that the 1968 censure was not enforced. What does all of this say about the organisation that is the Catholic Church,” Ms McGonigle asked.

Ms McGonigle has pleaded with police on both sides of the border to investigate Cardinal Brady for his possible role in perverting the course of justice and endangering children.

She pointed to current cases being taken against Catholic priests in the US for failing to report abuse allegations to the civil authorities.

“They are enablers, Cardinal Brady and all these priests. That is what they were asked to do and that’s what they have done,” she said.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/vatican-has-blood-on-hands-over-smyth-affair-192867.html

Caylee’s Law: Closing the Loopholes, Archbishop Martin – church failures

Caylee’s Law: Closing the Loopholes in Florida Law

Senator Mike Fasano (R), New Port Richey, has draft legislation for the 2012 legislative session after the Casey Anthony verdict came down.
By Analyn Megison  7/21/11

….“Over and over, from the beginning of this, Sen. Fasano kept asking about the 31 days: why is it that this child was missing for 31 days and no one reported it?” said Greg Giordano, Fasano’s chief legislative aide.

“As we know now, there is no law in Florida that requires that missing children be reported to law enforcement within a certain time-frame.  If there had been such a law on the books this case may have turned out quite differently.”

Fasano hopes to close this loophole in Florida law, and I think it would get law enforcement involved in a timely fashion when there is a missing child. Also, it is another tool that could be used in a prosecutor’s arsenal whenever someone is eventually charged by the state for this type of crime….

“Senator Fasano is proposing legislation that will require a caretaker (someone in a custodial role, i.e. parent, grandparent, babysitter, guardian, etc) who willfully or by culpable negligence fails to make contact or verify the whereabouts of a child 12 years of age or younger for a period of 48 hours will be guilty of a third degree felony if he/she fails to report the child’s absence to law enforcement at the end of said 48 hours.

“If the child suffers great harm, disability or permanent disfigurement while missing the charge will be raised to a second degree felony.

http://clearwater.patch.com/articles/caylees-law-closing-the-loopholes-in-florida-law-2

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin ‘ashamed’ at church failures -
The Archbishop of Dublin said there are groups in the Vatican and the Irish hierarchy trying to undermine child protection measures. 21 July 2011
Speaking on RTE on Wednesday, Dr Diarmuid Martin said there were systems in place that were ignored.

His comments come after Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny launched an attack in parliament on the Catholic Church.

Mr Kenny said the recent Cloyne Report into allegations of priest sex abuse showed change was needed.

In an unprecedented attack, the taoiseach said the historic relationship between church and state in Ireland could not be the same again and the report exposed the “elitism, dysfunction, disconnection, and narcissism that dominated the Vatican”.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-14230086

Irish PM in unprecedented attack on Vatican 20 July 2011
Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny has launched an unprecedented attack in parliament on the Catholic Church.

He said the recent Cloyne Report into how allegations of sex abuse by priests in Cork had been covered up showed change was urgently needed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-14224199

Dublin Archbishop ‘ashamed’ of church

21 July 2011  The Archbishop of Dublin said there are groups in the Vatican and the Irish hierarchy trying to undermine child protection measures.

Speaking on RTE on Wednesday, Dr Diarmuid Martin said there were systems in place that were ignored.

His comments come after Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny launched an attack in parliament on the Catholic Church. Mr Kenny said the recent Cloyne Report into allegations of priest sex abuse showed change was needed.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/14234488

Dialogue on Clergy Sex Abuse – Archbishop Diarmuid Martin

Annual Restorative Justice Initiative Conference Event
04-04-2011  Marquette Law School

Harm, Hope, and Healing: International Dialogue on the Clergy Sex Abuse Scandal April 4 & 5, 2011 Marquette Law School – Marquette University campus

(links to Archbishop Diarmuid Martin’s Lecture
and viewing the conference)
http://law.marquette.edu/cgi-bin/site.pl?2216&deEvent_eventID=3256&date=04-04-2011

4/4/2011 Marquette Conference Address
CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY – HARM, HOPE AND HEALING
Marquette University International Dialogue on the Clergy Sexual Abuse Scandal

THE TRUTH WILL MAKE YOU FREE:  A PERSONAL JOURNEY
Lecture Notes of Most Rev. Diarmuid Martin
Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland
Marquette University, Milwaukee, 4th April 2011

Let me give you some brief statistical background into the extent of the abuse scandal in the Archdiocese of Dublin.  In the period between 1940 and 2010 – as far as it has been possible to ascertain – allegations or suspicions of sexual abuse have been made against over 90 priests of the Archdiocese and against about 60 religious priests who held diocesan appointments. 10 Dublin priests, or former priests, have been convicted or have cases pending in the criminal courts.  Two non-diocesan priests, who served in Dublin, have also been convicted in the criminal courts.   The number of victims who have been individually identified is 570, but it is generally accepted that the number of children who were abused must run into thousands, possibly by about 10 priests who were clearly serial pedophiles….

I remember well the first complaint about the behaviour of a priest that arrived on my desk.  I looked briefly at the priest’s file to see if there were any earlier indications about his behaviour. At the top of the file I found a yellow page saying “Inspected regarding CSA – Nothing found”.  I felt however that I should look at the file in a little more detail and found that the very next document was an internal note: “Father X seems to be back to his old activities”.  Clearly there was knowledge of “old activities” but no clear understanding that these activities indicated an on-going serious pattern of grooming which should clearly have raised red flags.   The case was effectively dealt with respecting the appropriate norms; the priest was removed from ministry and the civil authorities informed….

If I take a Father Z, I can categorise him statistically in various ways.  He can be statistically registered as one priest; it can be determined however that he abused perhaps one hundred known victims; there can be valid indications that he had probably abused hundreds more other children; the number of family members affected will then easily reach into the thousands.  And that is just for one priest.  And in Dublin you must multiply Father Z by about ten real serial abusers….

I tell these events not to re-open history, but to illustrate just how difficult it is to bring an institution around to the conviction that the truth must be told.  All institutions have an innate tendency to protect themselves and to hide their dirty laundry.  We have to learn that the truth has a power to set free which half-truths do not have. The first condition for restorative justice is that all parties are willing to tell the truth and to take ownership of the truth, even when the truth is unpleasant.   As I said at a recent liturgy of lament in Dublin: “The truth will set us free, but not in a simplistic way.  The truth hurts.  The truth cleanses not like smooth designer soap but like a fire that burns and hurts and lances”….
http://www.dublindiocese.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2367&Itemid=1166