Priests encouraged to meet delegations led by prominent international RC clergy
Ireland’s Roman Catholic priests have been encouraged by the Association of Catholic Priests to meet a delegation sent to Ireland by Pope Benedict as promised in his Pastoral Letter to the Catholics of Ireland last March, according to a report in today’s “Irish Times” by Patsy McGarry.
The “apostolic visitors”, who arrived in Ireland in recent weeks, are exploring how cases of sexual abuse of children by priests were handled by the church in Ireland.
They have also been mandated to monitor the effectiveness of current procedures for preventing abuse in the Catholic Church in Ireland and to seek possible improvements to them.
The visitation has begun with the four Catholic archdioceses of Armagh, Dublin, Cashel and Emly, and Tuam, and will then be extended to other dioceses.
The former archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, is visitor to Armagh; Archbishop of Boston Cardinal Seán O’Malley is visitor to Dublin; Archbishop of Toronto Christopher Collins is visitor to Cashel; and Archbishop of Ottawa Terrence Prendergast visitor to Tuam. Archbishop of New York Timothy Dolan is visitor to the seminaries, including Maynooth and the Irish College in Rome.
Rest of report at:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/1230/1224286489390.html
Robust correspondence in the Irish press continues on this issue. Religious beliefs are essentially private and when they enter the public sphere they must bear the same robust examination as any other opinion, writes a correspondent to The Irish Independent, who feels that elected politicians have a duty to hold bishops to account. See:
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/letters/deference-to-church-has-gone-too-far-2478347.html