Among the undersigned are survivors of clerical sexual abuse who seek healing within the framework of their Christian faith. They, and the rest of us, find it deeply disturbing, and inexplicable, that, since the Ferns report was published, not a single bishop of the Irish Church has commented on this verdict - to point out that every one of the children abused in Ferns was a full, baptised member of the Catholic church.
How could the most innocent and vulnerable members of our church ever have been considered expendable by any of its leaders - by those especially charged with a duty of spiritual care for all children?
How could two successive bishops of an Irish diocese (and Ferns is so far the only Irish diocese that has been publicly scrutinised) ever have thought that the interests of the church could be 'placed ahead of children'? (Q1)
We now know also that child sexual abuse by clergy is first recorded in the archives of our church in 309 (the Council of Elvira), and that at different times before the modern era, severe sanctions were placed against clergy who behaved in this way.
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