No 'Quick Fix' For Irish Church

Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, O.F.M.Cap., of Boston, as he began a church investigation of the Archdiocese of Dublin, told Irish Catholics he came “to listen to your pain, your anger, but also your hopes and aspirations.” He told parishioners at St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral on Nov. 14 that he could not “offer a quick fix.” Ireland’s largest archdiocese has been shaken by revelations of clerical abuse and of mishandling and coverup by church leaders. “The task of the visitation is to bring new eyes to the situation, to verify the effectiveness of the present processes used in responding to cases of abuse,” he said. Dublin’s Archbishop Diarmuid Martin welcomed Cardinal O’Malley as a hopeful sign for renewal and added, “The Archdiocese of Dublin today is wounded by sinful and criminal acts of priests who betrayed the trust of vulnerable young children.... This behavior has wounded the body of Christ.”