The abuse of a child is an abhorrent act that has no place in a civilised society. Most people find it difficult to contain their sense of revulsion and distaste when it is encountered. That emotional reaction is strong and often leads on to a desire to see the guilty party held to account […]
Read More →I was recently asked to present a paper at an international conference in London in which I made the statement that I felt that safeguarding standards within faith communities needed to be set at a higher level than for the rest of society. My reason for asserting that this should be case is the […]
Read More →The Basis for Trust The dilemma facing the hierarchy of the Irish Catholic Church is how they create trust. Assurances have now been given that children will be safeguarded within their care but can these be accepted? They were often given in the past and it was later shown that they were not […]
Read More →Keeping It Simple I was struck recently by the content of an article carried by the Catholic News Service published on 24th July. The article was headed “Vatican revising canon law on abuse penalties, cardinal says”. This is a subject that has interested me for some years and so I read the article […]
Read More →Recently the media has focused on the incidence of abuse in society and also specifically within the Catholic Church. Pope Francis mentioned in an interview that he gave to a reporter that he understood the incidence of paedophilia to be approximately 2% amongst the clergy in the Catholic Church worldwide. Many would regard this figure […]
Read More →Accountability – For whom? I have been watching with interest the media coverage of the first meeting in Rome of the newly established Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors in the Catholic Church. This body carries on its shoulders the expectations of many millions of interested observers all hoping that it will guide the […]
Read More →At the end of June last year, I stood down from my post as Chief Executive Officer for the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland. Over the course of the preceding six years most objective observers would agree that great progress had been made in addressing the problem of […]
Read More →It may seem obvious to some that there is a causal relationship between the structure that an organisation adopts to deliver a service and the outcomes achieved by that service. Although that may seem obvious, I have encountered many examples in my professional life where the relationship between structure and outcomes does not appear to […]
Read More →Interview by Francis Sullivan, CEO of the Truth Justice and Healing Council
Read More →I was never a “Boy Scout”. However, I was always taken by their motto which is, I believe, “Be Prepared”. This always struck me as being eminently sensible advice and particularly so when you were facing some challenging event in life. It is with that thought in mind that I am sharing with you some […]
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