SUNDAY’S LITURGY of lament and repentance in Dublin’s Pro-Cathedral had its origin in a letter to
The Irish Times on June 19th, 2009, following publication of the Ryan report the previous month.
Signed
by 22 Catholics of the Dublin archdiocese, including three priests, its
sentiments were repeated in a letter published in this newspaper on
December 1st, 2009, following publication of the Murphy report in
November. It was signed by the same 22 people.
The Ryan report
dealt with the abuse and neglect of children in institutions from the
1930s to the 1970s, while the Murphy report concerned the handling of
child sexual abuse cases involving priests of the Dublin archdiocese.
Among
the signatories to both letters were abuse survivor Fr Paddy McCafferty
and Catholic activist Paddy Monaghan who, along with survivor Marie
Collins, set about preparing a liturgy in consultation with survivor
groups.
The liturgy content was agreed with the archdiocese in February
2010 which suggested excerpts from the two reports be included.
After
the service, Ms Collins said church authorities had asked for
forgiveness for covering up the abuse of children. This was “something
that has not happened before”, she said.
Among a small group of
protesters outside as the service took place was well-known survivor
Paddy Doyle who described the liturgy as “a stunt”.
It was “getting to
the stage where apologies are becoming cliches”, he said.
Survivor Mary
Smith said she “cannot forgive them”. She recalled how a parish priest
put her mother in a Magdalen home while pregnant with her and how her
own life had been a series of industrial schools and a Magdalen home.
Michael
O’Brien of the Right to Peace group said the Catholic bishops, who had
met him and other members of a committee of survivors three times, had
been refusing to do so recently.