Pope: 'eagerly desires' renewal for 'beloved Church in Ireland'

Pope Benedict XVI 'eagerly desires' renewal for the 'beloved Church in Ireland', where many people have “experienced a loss of trust” in the Church as a result of abuse of minors by clergy, stated a Summary of the Findings of the Apostolic Visitation to the Church in Ireland, published Tuesday.

The seven page Summary was presented to the public at the Columba Centre in St Patrick’s College, Maynooth by Cardinal Seán Brady, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin Sr Marianne O'Connor representing Irish Religious and papal nuncio to Ireland Archbishop Charles Brown. Listen to Emer McCarthy's report:

Ultimately 'pastoral' in nature and in tone, the Visitation Summary is, in essence, a document of proposals to the Irish Church as it continues in its efforts towards renewal. It states that during their stay in Ireland, the 7 teams charged with Visiting the Church there were able to see just how much the shortcomings of the past gave rise to an inadequate understanding of and reaction to the terrible abuse of minors. It re-iterates the “great sense of pain and shame”, that must be acknowledged by Church authorities. It notes the "very moving penitential liturgies in the cathedrals" held to address the issue of abuse within the Church and seek forgiveness from God and from victims.

But the Visitators – who included Cardinal Sean O’ Malley of Boston, New York Cardinal Tim Dolan, Toronto Cardinal Tom Collins and British Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’ Connor - also have words of praise for the “progressive steps” that have been taken since the 1990’s; for the efforts to ensure safeguarding procedures are being strictly followed; for the Bishops, priests and religious, who live out their vocation in an "exemplary way", despite feeling unjustly tainted by association with the accused in the court of public opinion.

Then the Visitators make some proposals on where they see room for improvement in the Irish Church.

Among them: A new focus on the role of laity; the recommendation that the bishops consider 'adapting' diocesan structures to meet current needs; the great need for the Irish Church to establish a 'proper relationship' with media.

But the overarching emphasis is on formation and communion. The formation of future priests, fidelity to Church teaching of current priests, religious and theologians. The Visitators observe that when in Ireland, they encountered “a certain tendency, not dominant but nevertheless fairly widespread among priests, Religious and laity, to hold theological opinions at variance with the teachings of the Magisterium this serious situation requires particular attention, directed principally towards improved theological formation. It must be stressed that dissent from the fundamental teachings of the Church is not the authentic path towards renewal”.

So they propose a re-evaluation of the pastoral program, the reinforcement of structures of Episcopal governance over the seminaries and the introduction of more consistent admission criteria.

And communion between the many Church realities in Ireland, between bishops themselves, bishops and priests, religious and ordinary Catholics in the pews, because as the Visitators observe, “only a united Church can be an effective witness to Christ in the world”.

The Visitation was called for by Pope Benedict in his 2010 Letter to Catholics in Ireland following revelations of reports into the handling of cases of abuse by the Church there. It was conducted bin the four Irish Archdiocese - Armagh, Dublin, Cashel and Emly and Tuam – as well as among religious congregations and seminaries early 2011.