Anyone in Ireland will be more than aware of the recent news on the report of child abuse by the church in Ireland
It catalogues the systematic and constant abuse of children by priests. It details the knowledge that the Catholic Church had of it, how they moved paedophile priests from one parish to another, how they covered up, ignored the problem, used their power to sweep the rape of children under the carpet, how they, more than anything, acted to protect the church at the expense of innocent young people.
It tells how the Gardai knew about it but these evil men were not punished simply because of who they were. The white collar and the frock protected them from prosecution. We were told of non-cooperation from the Vatican who refused to answer the commission’s questions. We learned that the Dublin Archdiocese took out insurance in the 80s to protect itself from compensation claims they knew would eventually come.
Acts of self-preservation to protect the ‘good name’ of the church, the assets of the church, the power and influence of the church and its priests. And in order to do that they allowed children to be beaten and raped and buggered. They protected men who destroyed not just those children’s lives but those of their families as the betrayal of an implicit trust became known.
Is there another organisation in the world that would go to such lengths to cover up such abuse instead of tackling it? I can’t think of one. The normal reaction of a person when they discover something like this is to ensure that the person in question is punished. Anyone with an ounce of goodness or morality would not allow somebody like that to go scot-free. They would, at the very least, try and stop them from doing it again.
But the bishops and the cardinals did no such thing. They allowed these men to go from town to town, leaving a trail of shattered lives behind them. They not only did nothing to stop them, they faciliated them, they aided them, allowing them to carry out monstrous acts of abuse over and over and over again.
Let’s be clear – the catholic church in Ireland has abused its power for too long and something has to give now. Not only with regard to the victims of abuse – like the children our lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin who were abused by the Chaplain – but every part of Irish society has suffered. The stranglehold they have had on Irish society and culture, on the Irish people, has been like that of a dictator. You cannot do this, you cannot think that, this is a sin, that is a sin, and we have accepted it because it has always been like that. It amazes me that Roman Catholics put up with this utter shite and have done so all their lives. How can they be so bloody dumb? There has to be some psychological reasoning behind it. Some kind of brainwashing? And I’m not saying this to bad mouth any religion.. I don’t believe in any of it. All priests, vicars, rabbis and holy men/women of any religion are smart fuckers in my book. They teach fear, fire and brimstone and sit there talking total bollocks and get paid for it.. It sure as hell beats working for a fucking living!
The Irish people’s reaction to the church is almost like Stockholm Syndrome, where the kidnappee feels trust or affection for the person who has taken them. The church has relentlessly abused the people of Ireland on every level and still people go to mass, they put money in the plate to fund the lifestyles of men who work for an organisation that facilitates the rape and physical abuse of children. In what decent society should this be tolerated?
If any other group had a track record like the catholic church would we allow it to exist? If it were a youth group whose workers sexually abused kids and whose leaders knew and didn’t say anything what would we do? We would prosectute those people. The Gardai would not turn a blind eye. And parents would never send their children to that youth group. Yet in spite of everything we know about the catholic church parents still blindly send their children to be indoctrinated into a church which has been the proponent of a huge conspiracy against the people in Ireland.
The kids go to school, they get their first communion, they do a religion class which is not about learning about religion, it’s about learning how to become a catholic, how to subject yourself to the church. Parents every single day in Ireland send their children to be educated by those people. This has to stop. Education should be about education, it should not be about religion. If you want to send your children to a catholic school then that is your choice. But there must be an immediate separation of the school system, funded by taxpayers, and the catholic church.
By all means teach about religion, it’s educational. Let kids know there is more to religion than catholicism. But no longer can we allow children to brainwashed via the school system by an organisation that cares nothing for them, only about its own power, influence and wealth. We cannot allow it continue. If the Irish, as a nation, want to move forward, to better themselves, then there must be an absolute separation between the church and the state. People talk about Ireland being a secular nation, it is not. Still the church thinks it can lecture to people about what they can and cannot do.
Laughably they think they still have some moral authority. It’s a bitter laugh though. They tell the world we should we be anti-abortion, against homosexuality, that we shouldn’t allow drinks companies to sponsor sporting events, that we shouldn’t use contraception, and so much more. Their moralistic proclamations at odds with their criminal actions. They preach at us as if we were the ones that needed it. The truth is the Irish people need to stand up to the church, to tell them that they have gone too far, that we will not stand for what they have done.
And what they have done has come with the full knowledge and blessing, if you will, of the Vatican. The centre of the catholic church, from where the Pope, the head of the church, guides his flock. And they knew all about the priests and others in this country who raped children. They knew that the idea of solving the problem was moving the priest to another parish where he could find fresh meat, and I won’t apologise for that comparison because they were predators. From the very top of this most corrupt organisation nothing was done to protect the most vulnerable people in society.
And it is a shame on the country, a stain on everyone. They have ridden roughshod over the people of Ireland and the people of Ireland have allowed it to happen. They have tolerated the kind of behaviour that nobody in their right mind would tolerate from somebody else. They have to stop it now. They have to stand up and let them know that they will not accept it anymore.
Their apologies have come too late. They’re mealy-mouthed and the simple fact is that they are only apologising because they have been caught and because they have no choice. If they were really sorry about the actions of the evil men who carried out abuse in their name then they would have stopped it when they found out. They would have handed these people over to the authorities, cooperated fully and accepted the punishments handed down. They did nothing of the sort, they made it worse. And worse. And worse. And now the whole thing has been blown wide open the victims are supposed to accept an apology? I don’t think so. The people of Ireland are supposed to forgive and forget because of some PR company prepared press release from a despicable man like Desmond Connell?
Remember – that report was only Dublin. There are 26 dioceses in Ireland and does anyone think Dublin was alone? Of course not. The scale of it, given the size of the area, is likely to be bigger here but I am positive the same kind of abuse went on in every single diocese in Ireland. There must be an investigation in each one because there are criminals who need to be punished and victims who need to see that happen.
When the previous report into Instutional abuse was published back in May there was, rightly, outrage. But then life went on, people forgot, the church continued its business as usual and you even had reports of attendances at mass being up. I’m doubtful they’re true but that we have allowed that spin to remain unchallenged is a shame on us. Now, after the Dublin report confirmed what everyone knew (and how sad is it that so little of it was that shocking?), Catholics cannot allow that to happen again.
The catholic church is a massively corrupt business. Nothing more. Imagine a large business who, it turns out, polluted rivers and caused deaths via cancer. It would be shut down. Or people would refuse to use its products. The catholic church is that business, it has caused deaths, it has destroyed countless lives, all for money, all for reputation, and if people continue to tolerate its presence then they are the fools who get nothing more than they deserve.
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A final word for people like Andrew Madden and Marie Collins. The word ‘hero’ is bandied around too often, so often that it loses its meaning, but in this case is it is the only word that is appropriate. They are heroes for what they have done. Their bravery and courage in facing up to what happened to them and their determination to ensure those who carried out the abuse are punished cannot be commended enough.
Without them there might be generations of victims still being preyed upon by the wicked men of god.
You are wonderful.
It’s going to be interesting to see what comes out of this, what lessons are learned and coming from the North of Ireland, what stinking filth comes out from here too. Father Brendan Smith died in jail after being locked up for abuse of children here in the north. Whose next? This isn’t going to go away. Noel Tranor?.. start sweating!
Shame on you all… rot in hell cos you’re going nowhere else!
I get drawn into shopping channels late at night when I can’t sleep. Whilst being utterly stupid they are, at the same time, utterly fascinating.
