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THE MINISTER FOR Justice Alan Shatter is insisting that legislation on mandatory reporting of crimes contained in the Criminal Justice bill will “apply regardless of any internal rules of any religious grouping”.
It comes in the wake of comments made by Cardinal Seán Brady yesterday, which have been seen as an attack on the new rules which will make it an offence not to report a crime, including admissions of child abuse made to a priest during confession. The Criminal Justice Bill is set to be introduced later this year.
Speaking to pilgrims in Knock yesterday to commemorate the centenary of the birth of Mother Teresa Cardinal Brady said that confession was a “sacred and precious rite” and that that any attempt to undermine it represents a “challenge to the very basis of a free society”. While he did not make direct reference to the legislation he did say:
The inviolability of the seal of confession is so fundamental to the very nature of the Sacrament that any proposal that undermines that inviolability is a challenge to the right of every Catholic to freedom of religion and conscience.
A spokesperson for the Department of Justice told TheJournal.ie that the government is determined that the legislation will be enacted in the next parliamentary session, and that child protection is the central focus and concern of the government, along with the reporting of allegations of child abuse to the Gardaí:
It is the failure in the past to make such reports that had led sexual predators into believing that they have impunity and facilitated paedophiles preying on children and destroying their lives.
Last month Minister for Children Francis Fitzgerald insisted that there would be no exemptions for priests who heard admissions of child abuse during confession. The minister said that the new rules on mandatory reporting would apply to everyone and that there will be ” no exceptions, no exemptions”.
Speaking to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland programme today Monsignor Hugh Connolly, president of St. Patrick’s College in Maynooth said that the seal of the confession is “positive and central” to the universal teaching of the church. He also said that he felt that the focus on the issue of the confessional seal as part of the wider debate has been “somewhat overdone”.
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So the catholic authorities believe that “protecting” confession is more important than protecting children from paedophiles and yet most Irish people want their children baptised catholic. What a strange country we live in.
There should be only one law in this country for everyone. No exceptions for men in pointed hats and dresses.
Simple aid to root out evil is to make it law that religious require Garda clearance as di health sector workers.
Excellent idea. Although I would wonder how many priests only became criminals after joining the priesthood.
The law’s the law. U don’t like it then piss off to somewhere that wants you.
SEAN BRADY, a so-called “prince of the church”, who covered up the criminal acts of the notorious predator priest, BRENDAN SMYTH should be prosecuted, as they are nothing more than PAEDOPHILE ENABLERS!
Priest’s victims forced into vow of silence March 15, 2010 David Sharrock, Ireland Correspondent The leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland resisted calls for his resignation yesterday, despite admitting that he took part in meetings where the victims of a paedophile priest were forced to take a vow of silence. Cardinal Sean Brady, the Primate of All Ireland, has confirmed he was present at a closed canonical tribunal in 1975 when two child victims of Father Brendan Smyth were ordered to sign agreements under oath that they would not discuss what happened to them with anybody other than an approved priest. ******* Mr O’Gorman, a survivor of clerical abuse, said it was obscene that the victims were required to sign oaths of secrecy and that it was unthinkable for Cardinal Brady to remain as head of the Church in Ireland. “Whatever his youth, experience or supposed innocence back in 1975, I do not find his defence of ‘I was following orders’ remotely satisfactory,” he said. “He believed that this out-of-control paedophile had abused children and he did nothing to report this crime to the police either then, or it would appear, at any point over the next 20 years, during which Smyth continued to rape and abuse in parishes across the world with near impunity. Instead he took part in a cover-up of Smyth’s crimes.” Source: Times Online – UK Link: http:www.timesonline.co.uktolnewsworldirelandarticle7061540.ece
The recently released Cloyne Report makes it abundantly clear that the careless and reckless policy adopted by the self-serving so-called “representatives of Christ on earth” that placed their reputation and that of their “church” above the welfare of children is still in force. These so-called “princes of the church”, who imagine themselves answerable and accountable to no one, continue to arrogantly flaunt and defy the laws of the land while leaving vulnerable children prey to the perverted and depraved appetites of the predator priests in their midst.
The global Roman Catholic Clergy Abuse SCANDAL brought to light in our day by the providence and mercy of God, in which the Roman Catholic hierarchy have consistently deferred to canon caw relegating it above civil law, reveals their arrogant contempt for the law of the land. The Bible gives them no license to make such an outrageous claim. Rather it was Christ Himself who said: “render therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s” (Matt. 22:21)
June,
The Bible has no authority period.
I wonder how many Roman Catholics have made their confessions before priests engaged in child sex abuse?
And how do they think they’d enforce this law? A private conversation between two people, in a private room. Who’s gonna know what’s said? Ridiculous argument. An unenforceable law.
Enforcement will be THE issue. Impossible. Of course many will try entrapment, but sadly, it will get media attention for all the wrong reasons and will become a farce. Stopping the evil of pedophilia in all religions will be as difficult as ridding general society of it. It’s insidious by it’s very nature and an illness that has survived the tests of time.
I can’t believe Shatter and the commentators in favor of this measure. You seriously want your pastor to be a state-sponsored informer??? If so, you are slaves and deserve everything that servile attitude brings. True freedom-loving people are few and far between in Ireland it seems.
if a child tells a priest in confession of abuse that they’re being subjected to, surely the priest would not be breaking any confessional secrets, as it’s not the child’s that’s doing wrong when they report it?
Regardless, the confession box (and how many people on here have been in one lately?) is not above the law.
If I committed a crime, and my boss knowingly hides it, surely we both would be liable to prosecution? Why is this never applied to the Church (or for that matter corrupt politicians)???
What about all the solicitors who knew all about the abuse that was going on and hid it. Its not who you know or what you know, but what you know about who you know, that will help your career in ireland.!!!
We must pray for Fr Smyth.
A lot of people will be making arguments and comments on the sanctimony of the confessional seal over the coming weeks. Most will be of the “Why should they get special treatment?” or “Religious freedom is a human right” ilk: – reasonable-sounding, but utterly useless, as they fail to properly address the fact that the ultimate argument for preserving the sanctity of the church is “God said it, so I’m right”. If you are a Catholic (a proper Catholic I mean – not the a la carte variety), then you must support this, if not you cannot.
The church may try to garner popular support by claiming that the confessional is a pastoral service, helping the psychological well-being of their adherents by letting them declare contrition in a formalised setting. This is makes no sense. The state does not give “get out of jail free” cards to psychiatrists that withhold information they gain in counselling sessions, so priests cannot use that argument.
The only real argument they have is that they should be allowed to deal with the wrong-doings of their supporters in the way that they see fit. Their priests are taking care of the souls of the people involved, so it is a necessary function in order to preserve their everlasting life-after-death. Of course, when you corner the average Catholic and ask them if they really believe what the church teaches (that anyone that dies without being absolved of their sins in confession will suffer everlasting damnation), I think you will find that they are Catholic in chosen demographic only – not in belief.
It would be interesting to see this play out a little in the press. It will be a delicate exercise for the Catholic Church – having to hold the line on Church dogma while not alienating their flock. In the end of course, they will have to play it like the journos protecting their sources – keep quiet and hope nobody asks. If a priest ends up behind bars, it would be a massive coup – the martyr who went to jail for standing up to the godless Irish heathens!
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