Perspectives on religion & politics
Secretary of State Owen Paterson has published a summary of the responses to the Eames Bradley Report on dealing with Northern Ireland’s past, revealing an overwhelmingly negative reaction to it.
As the unionist newspaper the News Letter puts it, ‘Ulster Rejects Eames Bradley Report on the Troubles.’ So is this just another case of ‘Ulster Says No’?
In a further attempt to address the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church, the Vatican has announced new procedures for defrocking priests. The Vatican is presenting these as tough new measures, the first amendments to the relevant sections of canon law in nine years.
But in a depressingly usual pattern, the Catholic Church has managed to undermine its own progress by not going far enough. The US-based Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests (SNAP) said the new guidelines were,
Continue reading ‘New Vatican Guidelines on Sexual Abuse: Missing the Boat?’
Today’s Irish Times carries an impassioned plea from Fr Robert Hoatson of New Jersey under the headline: ‘Papal apologies are all well and good – now is the time for action.’
Fr Hoatson was sexually abused while a member of the Christian Brothers and as a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Newark, and had a first cousin who committed suicide in the aftermath of clerical sexual abuse. Hoatson’s words, then, are rooted in the experience of the pain and suffering that always accompanies sexual abuse.
Continue reading ‘Road to Recovery’s 5-Point Plan for Victims of Clerical Sexual Abuse’
It’s been awhile since we’ve heard the Rev. Ian Paisley rail publicly against the pope, identifying him as an ‘anti-Christ.’ But in an interview with the BBC World Service, Paisley reverted to ‘anti-Christ’ mode as he voiced his opposition to the pope’s state visit to the UK in September.
On his blog, BBC religion correspondent William Crawley says that Paisley’s comments,
Continue reading ‘Ian Paisley and the Pope: The Return of Dr No?’
For many, the welcome reception this week of the Saville Report and the British Prime Minister’s apology for the failings of the British Army and the British state in regard to Bloody Sunday have signalled that Northern Ireland may be beginning to move on from its troubled past.
This morning on Sunday Sequence, the past was very much back on the agenda as William Crawley facilitated a debate, ‘After Bloody Sunday: a Truth Commission for Northern Ireland?’ I have been concerned that the recommendations of the Eames-Bradley Report are going to be quietly and permanently shelved, so I welcome the entry of this issue back to the public domain.
Continue reading ‘Putting Northern Ireland’s Past Back on the Agenda’
With the Saville Report, the City of Derry and Northern Ireland now have a document that has, in the main, satisfied the families of the victims who were shot dead by the British Army in 1972. The families and other citizens of the Bogside have for years said that they knew the truth. But the Bloody Sunday Inquiry was about receiving public acknowledgement from the British state about what happened on that day.
By now the facts of the Saville Report are well known: the Army fired the first shot, all of the victims were innocent in that they posed no threat to the soldiers, and some soldiers lied about what happened on the day. By acknowledging all of this and more, the Saville Report can be seen as a significant step in promoting healing for the families of the victims and for others who stood in solidarity with them.
Continue reading ‘Bloody Sunday and the Saville Report: David Cameron and How to Say Sorry’
If the Pope’s team of apostolic visitors want to prepare for their upcoming visit to Ireland, a good place to start would be a new book edited by John Littleton and Eamon Maher, The Dublin/Murphy Report: A Watershed for Irish Catholicism? (Columba, 2010)
The book gathers an impressive array of perspectives on the handling of the sexual abuse scandals, and the pressing questions facing the Irish Catholic Church today. Among those are the questions posed by the editors in the introduction (p. 10):
Continue reading ‘The Dublin/Murphy Report: A Watershed for Irish Catholicism?: Book Review’
The Pope has announced the team of apostolic visitors who will conduct an investigation into clerical sex abuse in Ireland. The Irish Times’ Patsy McGarry remarks that the Vatican has sent in ‘heavy hitters.’ McGarry says:
Continue reading ‘The Apostolic Visitors are Coming: Wounded Healers and Healing for the Wounded?’
In the recently published book, The Dublin/Murphy Report: A Watershed for Irish Catholicism? (Columba Press, 2010), Fr Enda McDonagh writes (p. 113):
Continue reading ‘The Ryan Report and Irish Catholicism One Year On’
Cardinal Sean Brady has decided to stay on as the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland. Brady has been ‘reflecting’ on his position for the past two months. The controversy around his position was sparked when it was revealed that in 1975 he was involved in a situation in which clerics asked two teenagers to keep secret their abuse at the hands of Fr Brendan Smyth.
Brady’s decision has prompted the inevitable back and forth of naysayers and supporters on radio phone in shows and in the blogosphere. Brady himself claims that ‘People want me to stay.’
Continue reading ‘Cardinal Sean Brady Keeps his Post, But do People want him to Stay?’
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