Systematic cover-up of clergy child sex abuse acknowledged in Ireland

On the first day of the American Christmas season, a news item out of Ireland, where a commission was commissioned in 2006 to investigate how and when the Catholic Church and the Irish government ignored, covered up, and thus facilitated child sex abuse by the clergy from 1975 to 2004. The commission has published its findings:

The Commission of Investigation into Dublin’s Catholic Archdiocese has concluded that there is “no doubt” that clerical child sexual abuse was covered up by the archdiocese and other Church authorities.

[ ... ]

In its report, published this afternoon, it has also found that “the structures and rules of the Catholic Church facilitated that cover-up.”

It also found that “the State authorities facilitated the cover-up by not fulfilling their responsibilities to ensure that the law was applied equally to all and allowing the Church institutions to be beyond the reach of the normal law enforcement processes.”

Over the period within its remit “the welfare of children, which should have been the first priority, was not even a factor to be considered in the early stages,” it said.

“Instead the focus was on the avoidance of scandal and the preservation of the good name, status and assets of the institution and of what the institution regarded as its most important members – the priests,” it said.

The report concludes that the Irish national police force systematically allowed the abuse to continue for decades, in a sort of public-private partnership for the protection of pedophiles:

“The relationship between some senior gardaí and some priests and bishops was also inappropriate,” [the report] said. “A number of very senior members of the gardaí, including the Commissioner in 1960, clearly regarded priests as outside their remit. There are some examples of gardaí actually reporting complaints to the Archdiocese instead of investigating them.”

Dig that. That's theocracy in action: the police reporting to the church rather than putting suspected criminals into the justice system. (The Garda has apologized for its complete abdication of responsibility in the matter.)

The government's statement (full text) is a good start and a profound victory for generations of victims of clergy sex abuse. But sadly, it's only in my dreams and in better blogs where the church is called out as an international pedophile ring.