Time to find a way to move on and begin the healing process

Date Published: 26-Feb-2010

THE Bishop of Galway has made it perfectly clear once again that he has no intention of resigning – and given that neither the Pope nor the hierarchy here has asked him to do so would seem to have effectively brought this drama to a close.

Of course those poor unfortunate victims of clerical sex abuse won’t agree – and it’s easy to understand their point – but prolonging this process any longer only serves to further delay the start of the healing process.

The Murphy Report was a damning indictment of the appalling detachment of the Irish Catholic hierarchy from the greatest atrocity inflicted on the people of this country over many decades.

The fact that four Bishops did tender their resignations in its wake served to underline that, but Bishop Drennan argued that he was not criticised by Judge Murphy; indeed the only references to him vindicated his actions when faced with a clerical abuser.

At least one of the other bishops who has resigned was equally exonerated by the Murphy Report but they chose to fall on their swords anyway, accepting a degree of shared responsibility or a form of guilt by association. But Bishop Drennan has remained steadfastly insistent that he did nothing wrong, nothing that warranted his resignation – and both the Murphy Report and the response of his fellow bishops bear that out.

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin did wonderful work in addressing the whole scandal of clerical child sex abuse in the first place and his actions have ensured there will never again be a place for clerical sex abusers to hide.

But he may have been over-zealous in his veiled demands for Bishop Drennan’s head to complete the collection of former auxiliaries – because the Bishop of Galway insisted he did nothing that should force him to step aside.

Bishop Drennan was not asked for his resignation by the Pope in Rome during a meeting with Irish bishops last week – and he believes he has “tacit support” from fellow bishops for his position. His stance was supported by Bishop of Clonfert, Dr John Kirby, who said he admired Bishop Drennan’s strength of character, determination and leadership skills.

Dr Kirby said the church had to make its plans, and it now had a national body for safeguarding children in the Catholic Church.

That is the main positive to come out of this dreadful darkness – that what happened to so many innocent children in the past can never ever happen in the future.

It won’t ease the pain of the victims from the past and the vast majority of them – if not everyone of them – will never agree with the Bishop of Galway when he insists he has a right to stay in office.

The real power base in the Dublin Archdiocese lay with John Charles McQuaid and his successors; the auxiliary bishops were little more than elevated helpers whose duties didn’t extend too far beyond officiating at Confirmations.

All Bishop Drennan could do was deal properly with cases that came his way – and the Murphy Report confirmed he did just that.

There was an expectation at the height of the fall-out from the Murphy Report that all who had held high office within the Dublin Diocese over the period under scrutiny would have to go. It wasn’t down to guilt but more to do with a purge or a catharsis that would allow for a fresh new start.

But the reality is that the new start will be provided by the new rules and safeguards and the insistence of reporting of all activities to the proper state authorities. What the Murphy Report can do is change the future – not the past. Bishop Drennan wasn’t part of the problem then and his departure wouldn’t serve any purpose now.

It’s time to try and find a way to move on; it’s time to start the healing process and not keep re-opening the wounds.