Pope Francis needs “an effective disciplinary process” for bishops and religious superiors who enabled child sexual abuse, a US campaigner on clerical abuse has said.
Anne Barrett Doyle, who is co-director of Bishop-Accountability.org, a research group that tracks clerical abuse cases globally, was in Dublin this week to launch the first database naming over 70 Irish clergy convicted of child sex abuse on the island of Ireland.
The data was collated by Mark Vincent Healy, who was sexually abused by two Spiritan priests as a schoolboy in Dublin. It was drawn from information published by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church’s audits of the Irish dioceses and religious congregations.
At a press conference, the two campaigners revealed that 1,331 Irish priests, Religious and sisters had allegations of sexual abuse made against them since January 1975. A total of 3,394 allegations were reported but just 82 diocesan priests and Religious were convicted of an offence.
That means a total of 1,249 “walked away” and that the chances of being made accountable were just 6.2 per cent, Mr Healy said. He was one of two Irish survivors of abuse who met Pope Francis in 2014.
Ms Barrett Doyle called on Pope Francis to “set an example of transparency” and release the names of 3,400 priests convicted of sexual abuse under canon law. She said there are “undoubtedly” Irish priests on that list who have not been convicted in law but have perpetrated abuse.
The Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Jude Thaddeus Okolo, has been asked to endorse the idea with Pope Francis.
Both Mr Healy and Ms Barrett Doyle said that because conviction rates are so low for clergy, the full picture of the extent of abuse and the number of abusers remain unclear.
Calling on the Pope to “make zero tolerance more than a slogan” and implement it within canon law, Ms Barrett Doyle cited the US bishops’ policy of zero tolerance as a model for the rest of the Church, and said the Church also had to look at how to punish guilty bishops and religious superiors who acted as enablers.
“It is no wonder this is still an open wound here; what a terrible injustice to those thousands of survivors who told their stories to the Church and to the media that not one bishop and not one religious superior has suffered so much as a criminal charge. What is the accountability gap in this country – that is the question.”
She suggested that the Irish Church should, like some US dioceses, publish the names of clergy against whom credible allegations have been made.