The humbling of the clergy and religious in the wake of the Ryan Report, and in expectation of the Dublin Report, has been described as part of a process that was badly needed in the Irish Church by Bishop Willie Walsh.
Speaking at the Reality Awards, hosted by Redemptorist Communications, where Bishop Walsh received a Lifetime Achievement award, he said that recent times have been ''the best of times and the worst of times'' for the Church.
''I think there are lots of wonderful things like Sharon Commins and the concern that has been shown for Columban Fr Michael Sinnott. And they simply represent a fraction of the wonderful work being done all over the world by missionaries, priests, religious and lay and the wonderful work that people are doing every day of their lives - parents raising their children in love.''
Bishop Walsh said the Ryan Report has been devastating, and the Dublin Report will again be devastating for the Church.
''I think that this is a whole process which the Church needed - and needed badly. We had gone through a period where we were overconfident. We thought that we were the best Catholics in the world - the island of saints and scholars.
''I thought when I was growing up that we were reliving that and I think that, sadly, it has taken something like this to bring a bit of reality to the Church,'' he said.
''It makes us humble and reminds us of our fragility. I think that our position will be much closer to what Christ was about - weak, humble and a servant and if the Church is about anything it is about serving people. It is not about dominating people's lives.''
Other Reality Awards went to the Iona Institute for Church Organisation of the Year, while the Catholic Guides won Youth Organisation of the Year and Fr Peter McVerry won Person of the Year.
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