Monday, May 25, 2009

The Catholic Herald

The findings of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse In Ireland for much of the 20th century stands as a healthy rebuke to those of us too inclined to hark back to the Good Old Days. It “exposes for the first time the scope of the problem in Ireland, as well as how the government and the church colluded in perpetuating an abusive system. The revelations have also had the effect of stripping the Catholic Church, which once set the agenda in Ireland, of much of its moral authority and political power”. (Sarah Lyall, New York Times).

But those of us too ready to cast the first stone would do well to ponder an article by John Banville, also in the New York Times. He concludes as follows:

Ireland from 1930 to the late 1990s was a closed state, ruled — the word is not too strong — by an all-powerful Catholic Church with the connivance of politicians and, indeed, the populace as a whole, with some honourable exceptions. The doctrine of original sin was ingrained in us from our earliest years, and we borrowed from Protestantism the concepts of the elect and the unelect. If children were sent to orphanages, industrial schools and reformatories, it must be because they were destined for it, and must belong there. What happened to them within those unscalable walls was no concern of ours.

We knew, and did not know. That is our shame today.

What did surprise and shock me, though, was the reaction, or rather lack of reaction, of The Catholic Herald, the weekly which bills itself as “Britain’s Leading Catholic Newspaper”. There is not a SINGLE mention of the report online, the only reference being to an article in the print edition (not available online).

What on earth is the Herald playing at?

5 comments:

  1. Interesting post Barnaby. Possibly the Catholic Herald being only a weekly publication was not ready to comment on the report last week so perhaps reserve judgment on that until this week's edition.

    As for the abuse itself: Appalling is the apt word. Yet from my professional forays into such areas, I deduce that the abusers themselves often have enormous problems. Lack of emotional maturity for one which often makes them incapable of proper adult (ie grown up) relationships. Families and schools must share some of the blame forthat. Being deprived of real love by their families is another and being abused as children is another. This does not
    excuse them - and the Gospels make plain that the wrath of God can be visited on abusers- but it may go some way towards explaining the inexplicable.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for your comments, Jerry. You have a point about the Herald being a weekly, but surely the whole point of having an online edition is to be able to react more quickly to breaking news?

    I entirely agree with what you have to say about "the abusers themselves often [having] enormous problems". I think that's very true. There's so much misery in the world, isn't there? And it's so difficult to break out of the cycle of poverty and neglect.

    I'm not in a position to blame (or forgive) anyone, but what I find hard to understand is the extraordinarily supine attitude of the Church in Ireland in RECENT YEARS, basically hoping that the whole thing would blow away. At long last, there appears to have been a reaction yesterday in keeping with the gravity of the situation from the Archbishop of Dublin.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Greetings again Barnaby

    Yes I looked at the Catholic Herald website and so far not
    a word. But their website is probably run on a shoestring. If so the real judgement can be drawn
    once this week's edition is out (Friday?).

    The Tablet too is silent so far though I haven't accessed their website.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Jerry,
    Nothing in the Tablet either as far as I can see!
    On a more general note, I know how easy it is for people like me who have drifted away from the Church over the years to seize upon an event like this to, so to speak, justify their decision. That would be the height (or depth) of intellectual dishonesty!

    It's just that I think that any suspicion of "closing of the ranks" on the part of the Church (in which I still deep down believe) would be absolute dynamite. That's why I'm so alarmed by the reaction, or rather lack of reaction, on the part of the Tablet and The Catholic Herald.
    I don't think this scandal is going to "go away". Last month the Archbishop of Dublin warned "the Roman Catholic faithful... that they would be shocked and outraged when the next investigation into clerical sex abuse is published this summer".

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  5. Somewhat somber thoughts for this lovely sunny spring morning Barnaby.

    The Catholic Herald report when read with their editorial plus Mary Kenny's comments on the centre pages was not bad though I agree that the Tablet's was good and deservedly hard hitting.

    Your thoughts inspired me to note some down too.

    ReplyDelete

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