"The End of Awe" by Maureen Dowd/ Ireland Leads Way to Challenge Vatican to Protect Children Vs. Perpetrators of Sexual Abuse

July 23, 2011
The End of Awe
By MAUREEN DOWD

"WEDNESDAY found both the British prime minister and the Irish taoiseach passionately addressing their parliaments about the demystified lords of their universes.
Across the Irish Sea in Dublin, Enda Kenny took on the actual pope, making a blazing speech about the Vatican’s unconscionable behavior in the pedophilia scandal.
After 17 years of revolting revelations, Kenny said the latest report on the Cloyne diocese in County Cork exposed “an attempt by the Holy See to frustrate an inquiry in a sovereign, democratic republic as little as three years ago, not three decades ago.”
The report, he said, “excavates the dysfunction, disconnection, elitism, the narcissism that dominate the culture of the Vatican to this day. The rape and torture of children were downplayed or ‘managed’ to uphold, instead, the primacy of the institution, its power, standing and ‘reputation.’ ...

Bridget Mary's Reflection:

Maureen Dowd, an Irish American, is an astute observer of the human condition . She is "right on" about issues that apply to the Roman Catholic Church.

It is ironic that Ireland is putting its foot down. It is positioned to take on the Vatican and demand accountability in a way that no other nation can.

One would have to be Irish to appreciate what a courageous stance this is for Enda Kenny, the prime minister!

I certainly get it!

Our family left Coolkerry, Rathdowney, Ireland when I was 8 years old, in 1956, but in the USA, we were raised as if we lived in Ireland. My mother, Bridie, led the family rosary every night. We attended Mass weekly, if not more often, made novenas, my brothers, Patrick and Sean attended parochial schools, obeyed all the rules, etc.

So, I know all about the cultural connection between being Irish and being Roman Catholic. Tribal identity and religious affliation are intimately connected in Ireland, and the Irish in the United States lived their "irish" identity in the United States.

So fast forward to today.

What a indictment of the Catholic Church by a Catholic country!

Perhaps, the Irish are the only ones who could really demand at the Vatican deal with the crisis in a way that values children as the images of God, worthy of protection that puts their rights in civil law above protection of clergy perpetrators in canon law.

Now the question is will the Irish lead the world in challenging Vatican diplomatic immunity as a shield for clergy criminals who are transferred from country to country in violation of the human rights of children?

Instead of complaining about their prophetic stance, the Vatican should be expressing gratitude to the Irish for once again saving the church!

Right on, holy Ireland for leading the way, once again, as you did long ago!

Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP
Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests
http://www.associationofromancatholicwomenpriests.org/
sofiabmm@aol.com
703-505-0004