Men of cloth failed us again

As Shakespeare would have it,"Truth will out". In my opinion, the truth was always there, and only needed a few brave souls to shine a light. For too long the 'revered' men in the Catholic Church have failed the people who profess their faith. The newly appointed leader of the Church in England said, that the report on the child abuse in Ireland by Christian Brothers and nuns from the Sisters of Mercy, "overshadowed' the good these institutions have done, and "It is a tough road to take, to face up to our own weaknesses" (BBC, 2009). Well, I'm sorry your Catholic guilt got in the way of owning up to years of abuse and torture of innocent children, and maybe we should 'forgive' these men and women, instead of turning them over to the proper authorities and jail where they belong.

The Irish are well known for their love and devotion to the mother Church, but what is less known is the mother Church's lack of compassion, and understanding for its followers. Throughout the Irish people's turbulent past, as the song goes, 'The men of cloth failed us again'. The Bishops blessed the Nazis on their way from Ireland to fight on the side of Franco in the Spanish Civil War; the Church turned their backs on the fight against oppression from the British by threatening excommunication of people during the famine, who would not pay rent to the British landlords; Proponents of civil unrest were threatened with excommunication in the Eighties by Bishop Daly, and more that are too numerous to rehash.

Brought up Catholic in Ireland I was well aware of the bigotry, and hatred perpetrated against Catholics in that part of the world, since the days of Cromwell and the Penal institutions that he promulgated.The children who were subjected to the horrors of evil men and women must have thought Cromwell's men had returned.

There were always rumours of the abuse, and people surely knew this type of thing was going on, but the fear of the Church was so instilled in the people, that the matter was swept under the carpet and backs were turned to save face. Now faced with the truth, what does the commission report to do? Build a memorial to the abused. And the new leader in England, what does he say? "Pray for those who suffered".
That'll help.