The New Irish Heroes

July 24, 2011|Mike Collins | Mike's Perspective

Ireland loves its heroes, even those like Michael Collins who met his end at the hands of fellow Irishmen. Collins was never more popular than he was at his funeral. The response was overwhelming, just like the response last week to the comments of Ireland’s Taoiseach, or Prime Minister. Using words like dysfunction, disconnection, elitism and narcissism, Enda Kenny was not talking about the opposition party but instead the culture of the Vatican which he accused of downplaying and managing reports of the rape and torture of children in order to uphold its own power and reputation, a reputation that is already tarnished.

The Prime Minister’s measured outrage came in response to yet another report accusing some Irish priest of abuse and the now inevitable cover-ups, this time in County Cork. Some of these cases are of recent vintage, not allegations from decades ago.

The latest report has driven an even bigger wedge between Irish Catholics and The Vatican, something that would have seemed impossible even a generation ago. There have been previous reports, but this one, according to the Prime Minister, is a dagger “because for the first time in Ireland, a report into child sexual abuse exposes an attempt by the Holy See to frustrate an inquiry in a sovereign, democratic republic.” In a democracy such behavior is an indictable offense.

There is no going back now for Irish Catholics. The editor of The Irish Catholic says the Prime Minister has tapped into a vein of the Irish psyche because he has stood up to the Pope and those bishops who continued to watch over a human tragedy.

There is another hero in all of this terrible news and it is the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin. In his homily a week ago Sunday he said, “Irish religious culture has radically changed and has changed irreversibly. There will be no renewal in the church until that fact is recognized.” He pinned the blame on church hierarchy “who placed their own views above the safeguarding of children, even above the norms which the current pope has promulgated.”

Archbishop Martin is anything but a radical. However, his constant drumbeat for the church to make radical changes in its handling of bad priests has been met largely with silence, and he has practically been frozen out by Rome.

In the past such a relationship would have had the Archbishop removed and probably sent to a mission in a far away jungle.

Let us hope the Archbishop will continue to oversee his flock and the leaders of Ireland’s government will never again put the church ahead of the state.

Yes there are still heroes, but it will take a cathedral full of super heroes to turn this around.

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