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Comments by Bishop Donal Murray at the media launch of the Irish Bishops’ Conference pastoral reflection: Towards Healing 8th February 2005 Ten years ago, on the publication of the Child Sexual Abuse: Framework for a Church Response, Cardinal Daly said, “we express our shame and sorrow that such incidents of abuse have occurred. On behalf of bishops, priests and religious we apologise to all who have suffered because of sexual abuse inflicted on them by priests and religious … Those who have suffered abuse and their families should have the first call on the Church’s pastoral concern. As you will see in the press release, the Church has undertaken many initiatives since then. Today as Lent is about to begin – and as part of that ongoing process - the bishops are offering the document you have just received. Lent is a time of the year when Christians are called to see things more clearly and to recognise that we are sinners. Lent is a journey in which we try to open our lives to the healing love of God. Towards Healing is a Lenten reflection about that journey. In recent years the pain of people who suffered sexual abuse as children has at last begun to receive the public attention and understanding it deserves. This reflection is intended, in the first place for all the members of the Church, and invites them to participate in bringing that healing to them. The Good Samaritan is our model. We must not, like the priest and Levite in the parable, pass by on the other side, failing to see somebody’s suffering because we are too wrapped up in our own business to notice. To be a Good Samaritan means being available to listen, to learn, to understand and to offer wholehearted help. This help needs to respond to the real situation in a practical and effective way. One of the most important services we can offer to members of the Church, and to Irish society in general, is to share the experience of what we have painfully learnt. For example, the pain of overcoming disbelief when somebody one knows, even loves, abuses a child. We have also learned that an instinct to deal with this discreetly can lead to failure to take necessary steps. Over the last ten years we have learned a great deal about the measures that need to be taken to prevent further abuse by a perpetrator. There is a dreadful betrayal of trust when a child is abused by an adult. This is particularly so when that adult is a priest and the innocent trust is exploited and destroyed by someone who is supposed to be a sign of God’s tender healing love. The cry for healing needs to be heard from all victims of child sexual abuse - whether abused by priests or others - and let us not underestimate the scale of this horror in our society. The first step in the process of healing is to learn to understand the enormous impact of that betrayal on the victim. This healing process has many dimensions and is different for every individual. The steps could include such things as ongoing counselling/family counselling or it may be that a person’s education has been blighted by the experience of abuse and that some kind of educational provision would help. We recognise the journey of healing may need to continue for a long time. The task of accompanying those in need of healing is a task for all of us. People who have suffered abuse tell us repeatedly that what they want, above all, is healing and closure. They need to find reliable and understanding companions to walk with them along their often disheartening and difficult road. In its response, all Christians, not just bishops and clergy, through their gifts and skills and time and friendship, must aim to bring healing to those who have suffered child sexual abuse. One of the greatest losses for those who were abused as children, and indeed for their families, is that it has often made it hard for them to see the Church as a source of hope and consolation and strength. We would dearly love to be able to restore what was taken from them. We need to make our communities ones in which the journey towards peace and wholeness can be made. We must try to ensure that we do not put obstacles in the way of that return to fuller participation in the life of the Church. There are many resources in the Church community: spiritual direction; counselling; educational skills; financial know how; medical and psychiatric expertise. We are asking people with these skills, and many others, to consider putting them at the service of the journey towards healing. Both those who have been abused and those who walk with them along the road to healing are making a Lenten journey. They face together the darkness that evil casts over human life and learn to trust in the promise of the new creation in Christ which offers us hope beyond all we have ever imagined. This is the promise of Easter. +Donal Murray Bishop of Limerick Ends |