Report on handling of child abuse

Bishop John Kirby of Clonfert, commenting on the recent (September 20120 publication of the report of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church  said that he accepted the Board's review of how clerical abuse was handled in the diocese “in its entirety”. He said that the diocese had “rectified the deficiencies noted by the review and has implemented all eight of the formal recommendations in the nine months since last November”.

On a personal note, he admitted that he had shown a “previous lack of understanding of the sinister and recidivist nature of the child abuser, and the lifelong damage that this destructive behaviour has on victims”. His most profound apology was reserved for his “grave mistake” moving two repeated priest abusers to different parishes after complaints were received against them. This, he said, placed others “at serious risks”.

The “……lack of understanding of the sinister and recidivist nature of the child abuser, and the lifelong damage that this destructive behaviour has on victims” argument has been trotted out by churchmen from the very first days this whole clerical sex abuse business became widely known. This is beyond naivety. It is insidious and self serving and downright untrue for the following reason. The institutional church is an authority on evil. Its priests have been listening for centuries to people - presumably including other priests – confessing their sins in the confession box. The church has centuries of knowledge of all kinds of human failings. To hear that a bishop in the 20th century had no understanding of the crime of child sexual abuse and its consequences is to invite us to believe that he is either a fool or a knave. There are few foolish bishops.