When I was a child, Ireland was a Catholic theocracy. If a bishop came walking down the street, people would move to make a path for him. If a bishop attended a national sporting event, the team would kneel to kiss his ring. If someone made a mistake, instead of saying, "Nobody's perfect," we said, "Ah sure, it could happen to a bishop."
It's excellent to see someone not pulling any punches. If we don't push this home we will just be seeing another round of child abuse cases in 20 years time. What ever is wrong with the catholic system needs to be repaired. This wont happen while they refuse to take responsibility for their actions and keep trying to deflect blame onto others or saying they will have a little pray and it will all go away. It's not going away this time. Catholics need to get in and retake their church from child abusers.
O'Connor goes on to say:
Benedict's apology states that his concern is "above all, to bring healing to the victims." Yet he denies them the one thing that might bring them healing -- a full confession from the Vatican that it has covered up abuse and is now trying to cover up the cover up. Astonishingly, he invites Catholics "to offer up your fasting, your prayer, your reading of Scripture and your works of mercy in order to obtain the grace of healing and renewal for the Church in Ireland." Even more astonishing, he suggests that Ireland's victims can find healing by getting closer to the church...
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