Willie O'Dea & Michael Noonan and Bishop of Limerick

goingpostal wrote: »

It will take much more than Kenny's words in the Dail yesterday, to ensure that these horrific crimes perpetrated by the RC Church against children stop and are prevented from happening in the future.

Very true. But at least it was a step in the right direction. Never has a high ranked politician in this country, let alone the leader of the country, spoken out so strongly against the Vatican and the horrific crimes committed against children in this country.

goingpostal wrote: »

I agree with you. It is definitely a step in the right direction. When I first heard about Kenny's speech to the Dail, my antipathy towards Enda and FG led me to think "So what, nice words but they are only words". However, thinking about it more afterwards, I can't remember the elected head of any nation, which has a large catholic population, attacking the Church's institutional cover-up of child-rape so forcefully. It is also easy to forget how utterly craven and beholden to Rome most of Kenny's predecessors as Taoiseach have been. I really hope it marks a turning point in the relationship between the Irish State and the Vatican. However, I have come to see many parallels between the Vatican and that other Italian organised crime syndicate, La Cosa Nostra. The Vatican has had a lot longer to accumulate its temporal power. Speeches in national parliaments, no matter how good, are easy for them to bat away and ignore. The speech will have to be followed with actions that hits the Vatican where it hurts, if it is not ultimately to ring hollow.

Yep it is the fact that he was so outspoken in terms of what he said, and the fact he is the leader of the government in a country where past leaders have kept very quiet over what was happening.

I think, as you also do, that the strong words need to be followed by strong actions. But I am willing to give Kenny the benefit of the doubt for a few years on those actions as the law in this country can be very slow at the best of times.

If in two or three years we see a number of the abusers getting locked up and treated like the life destroying scum they are, then Kenny will have been the man who headed the first government of this country to make a real stand against the Vatican and against the evil element that hids behind the name of the Catholic church in Ireland.

I also strongly feel that any man or woman who knew about abuse that was happening on their watch and being done by people working for them, but who turned a blind eye to it should be vilified and hit with the full force of the law based on anything they can be charged with.

If a person is a sexual predator, serial abuser or whatever tag they get, then the fact the stand up on an altar and preach to people should not stop them from being treated like any other sicko that abuses other people.

I see that Donal Murray out and about every now and then and whilst I would not be abusive to the man, I just look at him the same way a person would look at the sole of their shoe after they stood in dogsh1t.

I also would not refer to him by any of the titles which he was allowed to keep as in my mind there is no way a man who had incidents of abuse reported to him, abuse that was being committed by a sexual predator with a priest collar, and who decided to do nothing at all, and not even follow up on it, deserves to keep his fancy title and have people treating him like he is an injured party. Children were abused on his watch. He was told about this abuse and looked the other way when it was happening in his time in Dublin and then it came to light that complaints of abuse to children were not looked into during his time in Limerick. By not acting in any way, his inaction protected the abusers and allowed more children to have their lives ruined imho.

Inaction by people of power is what allows the scum to abuse over and over, and it protects the scum from the law.