This article is from page 19 of the 2009-10-27 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 19 JPG
THE Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh has expressed “a great sense of pain and shame” about clerical abuse and said, “I do believe it is right that it should be exposed”’.
The outspoken Catholic bishop of more than 15 years was awarded with the Reality Lifetime Achieve- ment Award on Friday last ahead of his retirement next year.
As the Redemptorist Community paid tribute to the man they described as a “Bishop and social justice cam- paigner”’, the Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh was only too aware that “these are the best of times and the worst of times” for the Catholic Church in Ireland.
As the Church braces itself for the release of the report into clerical child sex abuse allegations involving a sample of 46 priests in the Archdi- oces of Dublin, and in the wake of the Ryan Report, Bishop Walsh said these were part of a process that was
badly needed in the Church.
“I think that this is a whole proc- ess which the Church needed – and needed badly. We had gone through a period where we were overconfident. We thought that we were the best Catholics in the world – the island of saints and scholars.
“I thought when I was growing up that we were reliving that and I think that sadly it has taken something like this to bring a bit of reality to the Church.
“It makes us humble and reminds us of our fragility. I think that our position will be much closer to what Christ was about – weak, humble and a servant. And if the Church is about anything, it is about serving people. It is not about dominating people’s lives. So while it is tough going and it is painful for those of us, certainly for the clergy and bishops – I know that I certainly have a great sense of pain and shame about the whole thing, I do believe it is right that it should be exposed.”
He added that the “forthcoming report isn’t just about Dublin. It is called the Dublin Report but it is a report about all of us and our Church about how far in some areas we moved away from gospel values.
“Of course the Ryan Report has been devastating and the Dublin Re- port will be devastating,’ he said.
‘Having been a bishop for over the past 15 years, in some sense I have talked to a lot of victims and indeed I’ve talked to some abusers as well. There is no doubt, it is a devastating story. Yet I’ve always felt privileged when someone who is broken and has been abused tells their story. It is a privilege to listen to them, even when it is heart-breaking.”
But all is not lost, according to Bishop Walsh.
“These are the best of times and the worst of times. I think there are lots of wonderful things like Sha- ron Commins and the concern that has been shown for Columban Fr Michael Sinnott. And they simply
represent a fraction of the wonderful work being done all over the world by missionaries, priests, religious and lay and the wonderful work that people are doing every day of their lives – parents raising their children in love,” he said.
“T think sometimes we divide and talk about the secular and spiritual. Whatever is good is spiritual, that’s the reality of life and it is unwise to make these sorts of distinctions.”
Bishop Walsh was presented with the reality Lifetime Achievement Award for “his outstanding service and contribution to the Diocese of Killaloe and the Irish Church as a bishop and a pastor.”
There were six awards in total pre- sented in a number of different cat- egories in recognition of “individual and collective contributions to the Church and Irish society”.
The other winners of the Reality awards were Fr Peter McVerry who was named Person of the Year for his “consistently insightful analysis of the
Celtic Tiger and the impact the reces- sion has had on Irish society as well as his championing of the rights of the most disadvantaged in society”, and the Catholic Guides of Ireland re- ceived the Youth Organisation of the Year on this, its 80th anniversary.
Rev Ruth Patterson, OBE, was hon- oured for her book