Words of apology sound hollow in the face of
such abuse. They are, nonetheless, necessary. I
apologise unreservedly, on behalf of the Church,
for the failure to protect children in the past. Abuse
of children is a terrible crime. When perpetrated by
a priest or religious it is also a betrayal of sacred
trust.
The purpose of the Report is to establish the
truth of what happened. I believe that this has been
done. I pray that the wish expressed by some
victims and victim groups prior to the publication
of the Report, namely, that the publication of the
Report would help bring closure for them, will now
be achieved.
A particular focus of the Report is to
determine how Church and State authorities
handled the issue of child sexual abuse. Neither can
find any comfort from this Report in the manner in
which complaints received by them in the past were
handled. Both have much to reflect on as they go
about their everyday work and for the future.
I take this opportunity to assure you that the
diocese of Killala is fully committed to putting in
place structures which will, with God’s help, ensure
that what happened in Ireland in the past will not
become part of the inheritance of the future. The
recommendations of the Ferns Inquiry and the
Ryan Report are being followed here and the
diocese is fully committed to learning lessons from
of the Dublin Inquiry.
This diocese has structures in place which
should ensure best practice in safeguarding children
while in the pastoral care of the Church. If anyone
has a concern regarding the safety and well being
of any child, I would urge them to contact the
relevant authorities, the diocese, the HSE and the
Gardai, without delay. The names of the
designated persons for receiving complaints or
concerns in the diocese of Killala are posted on
notice boards in all the churches of the diocese.
The Child Protection Office at the Newman
Institute, Ballina, is open and the dedicated
telephone lines for the Designated Persons are
constantly manned.
In these dark and difficult times for everyone
let us pray for each other.
+ John
Bishop of Killala.
November 26th 2009
1. The diocese of Killala is working constantly
and tirelessly to ensure the safety of children
while in the care of Church organisations
and activities.
2. Robust procedures to ensure the safety of
children are in place in this diocese and
these are working well. The diocese of
Killala has a Diocesan Child Protection
Committee, consisting of seven lay people
and one priest, in place for the past number
of years. This Committee meets about every
eight weeks. As bishop, I attend all meetings
of the Committee. Recently, the Committee
undertook an audit, prepared by the
National Office for Safeguarding Children,
of the procedures in place and is pleased
with the results.
3. Two Designated Persons, Monsignor Kevin
Loftus and Mr John Cummins, have been
named to receive complaints of child sexual
abuse or concerns about the welfare of
children in this diocese.
4. The Diocesan Guidelines for Safeguarding
Children were revised and reissued in 2009.
They will be reviewed again in 2010 and
revised, if necessary. They are available in
every church, presbytery, school and sacristy
in the diocese, as well as on request.
5. The Policy Statement on Child Protection
in the diocese has been prepared, revised
and placed in every church porch in the
diocese.
6. A Child Protection Policy for Altar Servers
is posted in each Sacristy, together with a
Code of Behaviour for Children and Young
People taking part in Church activities. A
Register of those present in the Sacristy has
been prepared and is now in place in every
sacristy.
7. The priests of the diocese have received
training in child protection from the HSE
and the program of training for all paid
staff and volunteers involved in church
activities is almost two thirds complete.
8. During the past ten years, a host of people,
expert in the area of child protection, have
spoken to the priests of the diocese at their
twice yearly conferences.
9. The diocese is working in close
collaboration with the Gardai, the HSE and
the National Office for Safeguarding
Children in being vigilant with regard to the
protection of children in this diocese. |
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