To Sinead O'Connor, the pope's apology for sex abuse in Ireland seems hollow

[DainBramaged]

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."

The expression was more accurate than we knew. This month, Pope Benedict XVI wrote a pastoral letter of apology -- of sorts -- to Ireland to atone for decades of sexual abuse of minors by priests whom those children were supposed to trust. To many people in my homeland, the pope's letter is an insult not only to our intelligence, but to our faith and to our country. To understand why, one must realize that we Irish endured a brutal brand of Catholicism that revolved around the humiliation of children.

I experienced this personally. When I was a young girl, my mother -- an abusive, less-than-perfect parent -- encouraged me to shoplift. After being caught once too often, I spent 18 months in An Grianán Training Centre, an institution in Dublin for girls with behavioral problems, at the recommendation of a social worker. An Grianán was one of the now-infamous church-sponsored "Magdalene laundries," which housed pregnant teenagers and uncooperative young women. We worked in the basement, washing priests' clothes in sinks with cold water and bars of soap. We studied math and typing. We had limited contact with our families. We earned no wages. One of the nuns, at least, was kind to me and gave me my first guitar.

An Grianán was a product of the Irish government's relationship with the Vatican -- the church had a "special position" codified in our constitution until 1972. As recently as 2007, 98 percent of Irish schools were run by the Catholic Church. But schools for troubled youth have been rife with barbaric corporal punishments, psychological abuse and sexual abuse. In October 2005, a report sponsored by the Irish government identified more than 100 allegations of sexual abuse by priests in Ferns, a small town 70 miles south of Dublin, between 1962 and 2002. Accused priests weren't investigated by police; they were deemed to be suffering a "moral" problem. In 2009, a similar report implicated Dublin archbishops in hiding sexual abuse scandals between 1975 and 2004.

Why was such criminal behavior tolerated? The "very prominent role which the Church has played in Irish life is the very reason why abuses by a minority of its members were allowed to go unchecked," the 2009 report said.





http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/25/AR2010032502363.html

[ShortnFiery]

1. This was a well thought through article.

I shared it with my 16 year old. I conveyed to her the negative hype that followed O'Connor 18 years ago when she tore up Pope John Paul's picture up at the end of Saturday Night Live. IMO, she is a laudable woman of courage. :-)

[tuvor]

2. A mere rec ain't enough. K&R.

[janet118]

3. Remember when Sinead ripped up a photo of pope . . .

on Saturday Night Live in 1992 and was practically crucified by the U.S. media?


Too bad the investigations didn't start then. Many children might have been protected from abuse.

Clip of O'Connor's SNL altered

[caraher]

6. It was a completely misunderstood act

Given the context - abuse scandals, especially in Ireland - and the song she sang, it was a perfectly understandable action (whether or not you agree with it). But it was portrayed only as a moment of incomprehensible craziness, with none of the explanatory context required to make sense of the action.

[mgc1961]

4. This editorial is now posted 3 times.

Perhaps two of them should be removed.

[DainBramaged]

5. Maybe the importance of this editorial merits repeating.....

I guess you must be part of the correctness patrol here........


:eyes: