The Shame of the Catholic Church This World


The Shame of the Catholic Church

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Ireland's attachment to the Catholic Church

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is straining to breaking point.

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The secret crimes of Irish priests against children

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have collapsed the Church's moral authority.

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I should be out playing with other ten-year-olds, but I wasn't.

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I was being taken down to the beach and raped.

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Once the bastion of Catholicism on the edge of Europe,

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successive state inquiries on clerical abuse

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have revealed ugly secrets and left the Church reeling.

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I don't know of any other situation that I'm aware of

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where the clerical establishment has disintegrated

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as quickly and as dramatically and as comprehensively as it has in Ireland.

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The clerical abuse scandal is far from ended

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and it goes to the very top of the Catholic Church in Ireland.

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I am 100% certain, I've got absolutely no doubt in my mind,

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I gave them the names and addresses of those children.

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You know that children were abused because you failed...

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in part, because you failed to protect them.

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No. I did what I was there to do.

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The Irish Catholic Church once had unquestioned authority.

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Not any more.

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It came in about two or three years,

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where the entire business of the Church's power over our lives

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in the Republic of Ireland simply went down and stayed down,

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and it looks as though it cannot rise.

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The official end of Holy Roman Catholic Ireland

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came last summer with an extraordinary speech by the Irish Prime Minister.

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The rape and the torture of children were downplayed,

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or managed, to uphold, instead,

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the primacy of the institution - its power,

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its standing and its reputation.

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That landmark speech from a leader rooted in rural Catholic Ireland

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drew on the anger and frustration of the Irish public.

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I'm in Donegal, in the very northwest of Ireland.

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It has the highest rate of allegations of clerical abuse in the country.

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The Church is set to publish its own report about abuse

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here in the local Raphoe diocese.

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It hopes it will help to restore its reputation.

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Convicted rapist Father Eugene Greene attacked children here

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and in other parts of the county for decades,

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often in the most remote and beautiful places.

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It's known the rapist was reported to his superiors many years ago but,

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until now, bishops have insisted there's no evidence of this.

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No-one knows more about Father Eugene Greene,

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and how the Church handled him, than retired detective Martin Ridge.

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He spent two years investigating the crimes of Ireland's most prolific child rapist.

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We're crossing to Inishbofin Island, a mile off the Donegal coast.

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No place was safe for children here.

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The most beautiful, idyllic place you could imagine to live,

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where innocence collided with evil.

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It seemed that the wolves were protected,

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and the innocence of children, the little lambs, weren't.

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I don't believe a week went by

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in West Donegal where you hadn't a child

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or a number of children sexually abused.

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It's horrendous.

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Anywhere you look around here, which is so hard to fathom -

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by roads, side roads, in churches, schools...

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The abuse here was something unbelievable.

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Unbelievable!

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And the fact that nobody in the public spoke out about this,

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after the total carnage here...

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What happened here?

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There's a little compartment just behind here, Darragh,

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just behind this very altar, which was set up in the event

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of a priest being stuck on the island due to bad weather, you know?

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And unfortunately,

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Father Eugene Greene led some very young boys up here...

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..and abused them,

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raped them horrifically, just behind this altar here.

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Behind the wall, basically.

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Of course, he was abused time and time again, the same boy,

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but some of the abuse happened here.

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The police investigation,

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which ended with Father Eugene Greene being jailed in 2000,

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found evidence the priest's crimes were covered up,

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something always denied by the Church,

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which says there's no documentary proof.

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What do you expect from the Raphoe report in a couple of days' time?

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-Any revelations?

-Well, it's hard to see.

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I mean, the review itself will show what was on the files,

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what was written down.

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Will it be enough to convince us that all the truth is written down?

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I don't know. I don't like to be a cynic like Saint Thomas,

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but I only know too well how hard it is to get to the truth in the Catholic Church.

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I know that much remains hidden here

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because I used to call this place home.

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14 years ago, I gave up my job as a BBC reporter and moved,

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with family, to a new life running a pub restaurant.

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Now, Darragh, back to the old haunt again.

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-Do you think there's any change since you left?

-Not a lot has changed.

-No?

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'Most of Father Eugene Greene's 26 known victims

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'come from Gortahurk, where I lived.

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'Until the police inquiry began, they suffered in silence.

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'One of them worked with me, Martin Gallagher.'

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This shows exactly where Greene shared his time...

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'Martin shows me the various parishes Father Eugene Greene worked and abused in.

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'He believes the priest was moved

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'every time rumours of abuse surfaced.'

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He served there, and Gweedore, here,

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and he went to... Where were we? ..Glenties, down here.

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Down here, yeah. All the way down.

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He served on Tory Island, under Gortahurk.

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Tory Island and Inishbofin.

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And then he finished up in Kilmacreehy.

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That's where his last post was.

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They're moving this priest...

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It's like spreading a disease from one corner to another.

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The bishops spread the disease. He had the disease, they spread it.

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As simple as A, B, C.

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With the Donegal Church report imminent,

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Martin has just now started to speak publicly about his abuse.

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It began when the 12-year-old was encouraged to drive the priest's car.

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He started groping me when I was driving...and messing about.

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My hands were on the wheel and, at that age, you were nervous,

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probably, at driving, and excited, and all that,

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and you kept your hands on the wheel, regardless.

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And he would carry on...messing.

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He would stop and change. He would drive

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and expect the same treatment back from me

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that I was...he was giving me.

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Like...

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I couldn't do that. He was forcing me to do it.

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Scary.

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Like really scary, because at 12 years old, you're very innocent.

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Very... How would you say? Stupid or whatever...

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You didn't know any better...

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HE SIGHS

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It was...

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And stuff.

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Did he ever say anything to you about, "This is our secret"?

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Yeah. He would...

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Sorry. I've got to stop there.

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Um...

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You know, people looking at this just don't understand...

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..the devastation, the hurt, the harm that that man did.

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They don't... People will never understand.

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The hurt he's caused. The lives he's ruined.

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And the lives that have been lost because of him...

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that could have been prevented, like...

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..if people had taken action.

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When he was with you, did he ever mention God? Did he ever...?

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No, no.

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God was the last thing on his mind. He didn't care about God.

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John McAteer, editor of the local Tirconaill Tribune,

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Donegal born and bred.

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The Church he knew was too powerful, beyond reproach.

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John, what about the culture of silence that was here.

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I mean, does that culture of silence still exist?

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The culture of silence is, I think, a misnomer, to a great extent,

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because of the power and strength of the hierarchy over the centuries and over the years here

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in a very rural and conservative diocese like Raphoe.

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There was a culture of fear...

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fear that if you reported that you were being abused,

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you'd probably be further abused by your parents for making the allegation.

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This was a very serious situation.

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And I think that that is ingrained into the psyche of the people here in this diocese,

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and maybe, to an extent,

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that whole history is there to this very day.

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-You don't think it's gone?

-I don't think it's gone, no.

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Because there's a denial there,

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and there remains a denial to this very day,

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that to criticise the Church is entirely wrong.

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That deference is fading, but it almost impossible

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to overstate the power the Catholic Church once had.

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For generations, the Church influenced most aspects of Irish life.

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CHURCH BELL RINGS

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Dublin, and the Eucharistic Congress of 1932.

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The Catholic Church was presiding like a new monarchy

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over the fledgling Irish state.

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Exalted and respected, and feared too.

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Author Colm Toibin grew up Catholic in a country town.

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He's long scrutinised the relationship between the Irish

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and the institutional Church.

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Southern Ireland was effectively, after 1922,

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a Catholic state for a Catholic people.

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The Church was an effective government, or shadow government,

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making it absolutely clear to government

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that they would control schools,

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hospitals and many other areas of public morality.

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Anyone who didn't like this, there was only one place to go

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and that was OUT. Some people went out looking for work,

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other people went out looking for freedom,

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but that was a great release -

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giving the church further power over those who remained.

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And there was a nobility and grandeur about them.

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I mean, the bishop lived in a palace, but even in the towns,

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the priest's house was often - or in villages - the biggest house,

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and the curate had a separate house, and they had housekeepers,

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so there was a sense of their grandeur.

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They almost replaced landlords,

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or were a shadow system in the way in which they functioned,

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and the sense of their distance and grandeur and importance.

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Maynooth College was once the world's largest seminary.

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Thousands of priests left here to work across the globe,

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my own uncle, Father Noel, among them.

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That production line is almost closed.

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Fewer than a dozen priests are expected to be ordained this year.

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The class photo of 2007 shows just four graduating priests.

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Contrast that with the class of 1954.

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This is my uncle, Father Noel MacIntyre.

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As you can see up here, Nollaig Mac an tSaoir in the Irish.

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A decent man, very important to me, growing up. A good man.

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The sort of traditional Irish Catholic parish priest

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that every community deserved.

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Didn't always get.

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But he's a good man.

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You have a sense, don't you, of just an entirely different Ireland,

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looking at this.

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All these men.

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You know, 60, 70 men proudly marching to work for God.

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But that was a different Ireland. And, of course, a different Church.

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That's the point.

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Across Ireland,

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bishops have been forced to account for decades of clerical abuse.

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Can the Church now do the same with the Raphoe report?

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That's the question people are asking in Donegal.

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People like my old neighbours, the Breslins.

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So, where was that?

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'Martin's aunt, Kathleen, and her son Paul,

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'who was also abused by Father Eugene Greene.'

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-That's me.

-That's you?

-That's Martin, there.

-The good-looking one.

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The good-looking one's Martin. I was ugly. And that's my little sister.

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-It's a lovely picture of them. The two boys.

-The first Holy Communion.

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Their first Holy Communion, with their rosary beads.

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How tough was it for you at the start, when it all happened?

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-When it all came out?

-Oh, it was really tough.

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I remember the first night...

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Martin... The minute he told me, I knew.

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The minute he said it, I said, "I know."

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When he mentioned Father Greene, I knew right away,

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because I knew he took the two of them. So...

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I knew what happened.

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Because it was starting to come out at that time, you know?

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And I heard, you know, so...

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Martin told me that night, and that was the beginning.

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'It's always depended on women.

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'The woman represented the Church in the house.

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'She decided, you know,'

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what mass you went to. She decided who...

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"Have you been to confession?" It was your mother asked you that question.

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There was no saying no. You had to go, and that was it. It's changed, surely.

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-There isn't as many go now.

-Would people remark if you didn't go?

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Oh, well, them days, you had to go.

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'Not one bishop, not one senior clergyman had stepped out of line, had been brave enough to say,

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"I know more than everyone is saying

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"and it is wrong." Not one did it.

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And for women who had brought up children,

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who had done everything possible in their own households,

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that was an extraordinary breach of something they fundamentally believed in.

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It was hard to believe it.

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Because when you think that he came in here, you know,

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that he was in this house so often, you know, saying mass...

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It was hard to believe it...you know?

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Paul Breslin was an altar boy

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when Father Eugene Greene first took him away in his car.

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Always to quiet, isolated places.

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The thing is, there's so much beauty here, but, for me,

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there's so much evil and so much hurt.

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I should be out playing with other ten-year-olds. But I wasn't.

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I was being taken down to the beach and raped.

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The age of 10, 11, 12. I had no life at all.

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I had no childhood, no fun...

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Nothing. It was just pain, pain, pain.

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Every single week, pain.

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I would say to myself, "Why is God doing this to me?"

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I thought God was supposed to care

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and the priests were supposed to care, and not hurt a person, you know?

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And I thought, "Maybe I'm doing something wrong here." You know?

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Am I not doing a good enough job as an altar boy

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that he's punishing me for this?

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When I gradually, as I was growing up, when I was 14, 15,

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even up to 16, you're learning about,

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you know, everything about your body, and everything,

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then I would think, "Oh, my God!

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"These things that happened to me! This is what he fucking done to ME!"

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The pain got even worse then. It was in there.

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And I couldn't...I couldn't tell anybody. I couldn't go to anybody.

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They wouldn't believe you, anyway, to start off with.

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'It's now clear that survivors have not been spoken to for the upcoming report,

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'which is relying on the Church's own documents.

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'I worry this will disappoint those who I have met.'

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We weren't involved with this report. We have to speak up, be heard.

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I want this, I want that, I want to see those files, that letter of complaint.

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I want to know why was he moved from this parish.

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You knew he was doing it in that parish but you moved him to the other parish.

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Why was he then moved to the other parish?

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-You want answers?

-Of course we want answers. We want answers, big answers. Definitely.

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Father Eugene Greene's crimes might have remained hidden

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except for one man who'd been brutally abused - Conal Melly,

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telling his story for the very first time in public.

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You never forget it.

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It's with you for the rest of your life.

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And there's nothing you can do about it.

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'He has no faith that the Church will admit to a cover-up.

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'After a chance meeting in 1997,

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'he tried to get Greene to admit to his crimes.'

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It was probably... maybe a month after it...

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I went down and confronted him.

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-What did you say to him?

-I told him...

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I asked him, did he remember me, and he said no.

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And I said, "Do you remember abusing me when I was young?"

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He said he never abused anyone. Never.

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So what did you say to him? What did you do to him?

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I caught him and flung him across...flung him across the room.

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He was like...

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It was different then. I was a lot bigger than him.

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-What age had you been when he had abused you?

-About 11.

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-You were a tiny child?

-Yeah.

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-It was different now?

-Yeah. it was different now.

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So you picked him up and you...?

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I picked him up and flung him across the room.

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And what did you say to him?

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I can't remember exactly what I said to him,

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but said I would fucking kill him.

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-And I think that frightened him.

-But he still didn't admit to...?

-No.

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He did not. He never admitted knowing me.

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Conal then told the priest he wanted compensation - £5,000.

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But what did he do?

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He reported it to the guards. He reported me to the guards.

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Why...

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As if he was innocent.

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Or he must have thought the guards would believe him.

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Conal was arrested for attempted blackmail

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but Father Eugene Greene had miscalculated.

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The police were now prepared to believe the former altar boy

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and not the man with the Roman collar.

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Dozens of victims came forward.

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Father Eugene Greene was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

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But what the Church knew was never explained.

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The big change then came from a number of individuals,

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because when the victims began to speak,

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when you saw somebody describing what their adulthood was like

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in the shadow of what had happened to them...

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There was an element of shame in this,

0:23:220:23:24

that they had been living with this,

0:23:240:23:27

this had been going on in front of everyone's noses.

0:23:270:23:29

The big question across Ireland this morning -

0:23:320:23:35

will the report into Donegal's Raphoe diocese

0:23:350:23:38

help restore the Church's reputation?

0:23:380:23:40

What they're predicting in today's papers... The Irish Times -

0:23:400:23:46

"Criticism likely for Raphoe bishops on child sex claims", right?

0:23:460:23:51

If that is the sum of it, if it is just simply a mild criticism,

0:23:510:23:55

that's not going to satisfy them. Absolutely not. They are...

0:23:550:23:59

At one point, they would have been anxious for heads to roll.

0:23:590:24:02

They know that's not going to happen now.

0:24:020:24:04

But they absolutely want the Church to own up, to 'fess up,

0:24:040:24:09

to confess their role in hiding and covering up the crimes,

0:24:090:24:15

for more than three decades, of Father Eugene Greene.

0:24:150:24:19

'Shaun Doherty at highlandradio.com...'

0:24:240:24:26

10am. The local bishop, Philip Boyce, goes live on morning radio.

0:24:260:24:31

'Well, it's an important day for the Diocese of Raphoe

0:24:320:24:36

'because the much-anticipated report has just...'

0:24:360:24:40

Retired detective Martin Ridge,

0:24:400:24:42

waiting to hear if any new information is revealed.

0:24:420:24:45

'Nothing was done at the time. Now, we are talking about the late '70s

0:24:460:24:49

'and there wasn't such awareness of child abuse at that time,

0:24:490:24:53

'and there certainly wasn't awareness...'

0:24:530:24:56

-There WAS awareness of it.

-'..The children, sometimes lifelong damage.

0:24:560:25:01

'Our parishes, as far as humanly is possible,

0:25:010:25:04

'a safe place for our children, because, after all, our children...'

0:25:040:25:08

Pathetic, listening to that. Pathetic.

0:25:080:25:12

Self-serving words and no more.

0:25:120:25:14

'..the society and Church of tomorrow.'

0:25:140:25:17

Later, there's a massive media turnout for a press conference with Bishop Boyce.

0:25:260:25:30

I have spent endless hours and given much time

0:25:380:25:42

and energy to eradicating this evil, repairing what is damaged as best I could,

0:25:420:25:48

restoring justice and putting structures in place

0:25:480:25:51

to prevent, as far as possible, this criminal sin from happening again.

0:25:510:25:56

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to say that

0:25:560:25:59

the task of ensuring the safeguarding of young people in the Diocese of Raphoe is an ongoing one.

0:25:590:26:04

Thank you.

0:26:040:26:07

Bishop Boyce, can I ask you...?

0:26:080:26:10

Pointedly, there is no specific criticism

0:26:100:26:13

of bishops or of the Church

0:26:130:26:14

in the way they handled Father Eugene Greene,

0:26:140:26:17

one of the country's most prolific paedophiles,

0:26:170:26:19

there's no specific criticism of the way the Church or successive bishops handled him,

0:26:190:26:25

including yourself - does this report then,

0:26:250:26:27

in your terms, exonerate bishops and the Church, the way they handled...?

0:26:270:26:31

I'm not saying that it exonerates everybody.

0:26:310:26:34

It...it just shows that, at the time,

0:26:340:26:38

these...the information on these terrible things that happened

0:26:380:26:44

weren't handed up as far as...let's say, as the bishop's office,

0:26:440:26:50

and that word of that didn't come to us,

0:26:500:26:53

because there was no reference whatsoever to any allegation in the files which I saw when I came in.

0:26:530:26:59

The Church never intended the report to thoroughly investigate the past.

0:27:030:27:08

It was restricted to an examination of diocesan files,

0:27:080:27:11

and because nothing was found in the files, that is where it ended.

0:27:110:27:15

It's clear that significant errors of judgment were made by successive bishops

0:27:210:27:25

when responding to child abuse allegations that emerged within this diocese,

0:27:250:27:29

but there's no reference to Father Eugene Greene himself.

0:27:290:27:33

I know if I was...

0:27:340:27:36

..one of those who'd been attacked by Father Eugene Greene,

0:27:380:27:43

or if my brother or my child had been attacked by Father Eugene Greene,

0:27:430:27:48

and this is the sum of the knowledge

0:27:480:27:52

that the Church is admitting to now, I'd be absolutely outraged.

0:27:520:27:58

I'd be furious.

0:27:580:27:59

At the Tirconaill Tribune newspaper,

0:28:060:28:08

the presses are underway by late afternoon.

0:28:080:28:11

The editor has made up his mind.

0:28:110:28:14

My biggest criticism of it, apart from that,

0:28:170:28:20

is that here you have an audit into clerical sex abuse

0:28:200:28:24

that has no terms of reference to talk to the abused,

0:28:240:28:28

and you just ask the question,

0:28:280:28:30

"How can a report of any kind

0:28:300:28:33

"be completed without talking to the victims?"

0:28:330:28:37

Remember that a lot of these survivors have spent

0:28:370:28:42

35, 40 years literally imprisoned in their own minds,

0:28:420:28:46

imprisoned in their own communities and, to a great extent,

0:28:460:28:48

have been hospitalised in psychiatric wards, have had nervous breakdowns,

0:28:480:28:53

have had serious bouts of alcoholism, have had thoughts of suicide.

0:28:530:28:58

The scenario is absolutely horrendous.

0:28:580:29:02

And yet, you contrast that against how the Church has handled it

0:29:020:29:07

and how the institutions of the Church have totally failed those people.

0:29:070:29:12

Today's audit, to me, does nothing to address their concerns and their health problems.

0:29:120:29:17

What'll your front page say tonight?

0:29:170:29:19

We'll be simply saying that

0:29:190:29:21

-a diocesan audit is a whitewash.

-A whitewash?

-A whitewash.

0:29:210:29:25

It's very difficult

0:29:280:29:29

if you put such an important organisation on the run, as it were,

0:29:290:29:35

that they simply will have no idea how to behave,

0:29:350:29:38

how often to look back as they run,

0:29:380:29:40

how frightened to look, how apologetic to look,

0:29:400:29:43

how to avoid the worst catastrophe.

0:29:430:29:46

So it's not as though you could say

0:29:460:29:48

there was one way the Church should have functioned

0:29:480:29:51

at the very beginning.

0:29:510:29:52

The issue is that the Church had such power

0:29:520:29:55

and that power became abuse

0:29:550:29:57

and that abuse was sexual abuse,

0:29:570:29:59

and that happened to so many vulnerable young people

0:29:590:30:02

whose lives were destroyed

0:30:020:30:03

and that has to be dealt with.

0:30:030:30:05

The failure of the Catholic hierarchy

0:30:080:30:11

to deal with abusing priests

0:30:110:30:13

was not just confined to Donegal.

0:30:130:30:16

One story, still unresolved,

0:30:160:30:18

goes all the way to the very top of the Irish Catholic Church

0:30:180:30:22

and could have explosive consequences.

0:30:220:30:24

It involves Cardinal Sean Brady, Primate of All Ireland...

0:30:260:30:30

The last few days have been among the most extraordinary...

0:30:300:30:33

..and the country's most notorious paedophile priest,

0:30:330:30:37

Father Brendan Smyth.

0:30:370:30:39

At its centre, a boy who in 1975

0:30:420:30:45

reported Smyth's abuse to the cardinal,

0:30:450:30:48

hoping to end the abuse of him and other children.

0:30:480:30:51

What Brendan Boland didn't know

0:30:510:30:53

was that the institution in which he and his family held so much faith

0:30:530:30:57

would in fact conspire to silence him.

0:30:570:31:01

What age were you when this all started?

0:31:010:31:03

Well, when I was an altar boy,

0:31:050:31:07

I was 11 years old.

0:31:070:31:08

-You were just 11?

-Just 11, yeah.

0:31:100:31:12

And how long did it carry on for?

0:31:120:31:14

It carried on for...over two years.

0:31:140:31:17

Smyth, who abused for four decades,

0:31:210:31:24

often took children on marathon excursions in his car

0:31:240:31:27

up and down the island.

0:31:270:31:30

Brendan remembers one particular trip to Dublin.

0:31:300:31:34

Got in the car, and we went to Belfast

0:31:340:31:36

and we picked up two children in Belfast.

0:31:360:31:39

And then we drove from Belfast to Cavan.

0:31:410:31:45

We picked a girl up in Cavan.

0:31:450:31:47

Went to pick another boy up in Cavan.

0:31:500:31:54

And then we went back to the bed and breakfast.

0:31:560:32:00

And there was two bedrooms,

0:32:000:32:02

there was one for the girls

0:32:020:32:04

and one for Father Smyth and the two boys.

0:32:040:32:07

That was you and another boy?

0:32:070:32:09

Me and another boy, boy from Belfast.

0:32:090:32:11

And, um...

0:32:130:32:14

He called me over first

0:32:140:32:16

and he abused me the way he did before.

0:32:160:32:20

And when he was finished with me,

0:32:210:32:24

I went back to the bed

0:32:240:32:26

and then he called the other boy over

0:32:260:32:28

and done the same with him, and this time, I was in the bed watching.

0:32:280:32:33

Well, I was listening. I didn't want to watch.

0:32:330:32:36

It was a little afterwards, in 1975,

0:32:380:32:40

that Brendan found the courage to tell a local priest about the abuse.

0:32:400:32:44

The priest took him straight home to tell his parents.

0:32:440:32:49

A week or so later,

0:32:490:32:50

Brendan and his dad were driven to a local monastery.

0:32:500:32:54

Brendan was led into a room with three priests,

0:32:540:32:57

including Father John B Brady,

0:32:570:32:59

now Cardinal Brady,

0:32:590:33:00

then a 36-year-old teacher, canon lawyer and bishop's secretary.

0:33:000:33:06

Brendan was to be questioned alone.

0:33:060:33:09

His father was told to stay outside.

0:33:090:33:11

I felt alone, scared. I didn't know what was going to happen.

0:33:110:33:14

I didn't know what questions they were going to ask me.

0:33:140:33:17

I was only 14 at the time, Darragh.

0:33:170:33:19

Your father wasn't in there with you?

0:33:190:33:21

My father wasn't there with me, no.

0:33:210:33:22

'Cardinal Brady compiled the answers.

0:33:240:33:27

'Another priest asked the questions.

0:33:270:33:29

'Brendan was asked what Smyth did,

0:33:290:33:32

'but also about his own behaviour.'

0:33:320:33:35

What did they ask you?

0:33:350:33:36

"Did you ever do anything like this before with another boy

0:33:360:33:40

"or a man, a grown man?"

0:33:400:33:42

And I said no. And they said, "If not, why not?"

0:33:420:33:46

And they kept asking me, did my body change?

0:33:460:33:49

Did I get an erection?

0:33:490:33:51

They asked me then, did seed come from my body?

0:33:530:33:56

What kind of questions are they to ask a 14-year-old boy?

0:33:570:34:00

Brendan might have been shaken by the nature of the questions

0:34:030:34:07

but as the Church's own transcript confirms,

0:34:070:34:10

he was able to tell the priests the names and addresses

0:34:100:34:14

of other children Smyth was abusing

0:34:140:34:17

or who were at risk of abuse.

0:34:170:34:19

I give them the names of the other children that were on the trips.

0:34:190:34:22

There was a boy from Belfast, I gave them his name and address.

0:34:220:34:27

There was a girl from Belfast, I gave them her name and address.

0:34:270:34:30

There was a girl from Cavan, I gave them her name and address.

0:34:300:34:34

There was another boy from Cavan, I gave them his name and address,

0:34:340:34:38

and there was another boy that was his friend.

0:34:380:34:40

Were you able to be any more specific about abuse

0:34:400:34:43

you had seen or witnessed?

0:34:430:34:45

Yeah, I told them that

0:34:450:34:48

I witnessed one boy being abused.

0:34:480:34:51

-I told them that.

-Who was that?

0:34:510:34:53

That was the boy from Belfast.

0:34:530:34:55

-You told them that this boy had been abused.

-I did, yes.

0:34:550:34:58

I knew for a fact he was abused

0:34:580:35:00

and the other boy from Cavan, he told me he was abused

0:35:000:35:03

cos he didn't like going on the trips either.

0:35:030:35:05

The documents verify Brendan's account in black and white.

0:35:070:35:12

One of the priests came over, I'm not sure, with a Bible,

0:35:120:35:15

and he made me put my hand on the Bible and say,

0:35:150:35:18

"I, Brendan Boland, do solemnly swear

0:35:180:35:20

"I have told the truth, the whole truth,

0:35:200:35:22

"and I will speak to no-one about this meeting,

0:35:220:35:25

"only to authorised priests."

0:35:250:35:28

And then I signed it

0:35:280:35:30

and the other signature on the document was Father John B Brady,

0:35:300:35:34

the Sean Brady Cardinal of Ireland.

0:35:340:35:36

Cardinal Brady still had work to do.

0:35:480:35:51

He himself conducted a second interview,

0:35:510:35:54

this time with the Cavan boy Brendan had told him about.

0:35:540:35:57

The child corroborated Brendan's account.

0:35:570:36:00

He was sworn to secrecy.

0:36:000:36:01

Again, Cardinal Brady countersigned the oath.

0:36:010:36:04

He passed two reports to his bishop.

0:36:040:36:06

The police were told nothing - ever.

0:36:060:36:09

I've just spoken to the man

0:36:110:36:13

who as a 15-year-old boy, was also interviewed by Cardinal Sean Brady,

0:36:130:36:19

and what he's told me is shocking.

0:36:190:36:22

He says that his parents were told nothing

0:36:220:36:26

about his involvement in the secret church investigation.

0:36:260:36:29

More than that, he says his parents were not told

0:36:290:36:33

that he was being abused

0:36:330:36:35

by Father Brendan Smyth.

0:36:350:36:37

The Church, of course, said nothing

0:36:370:36:40

and he said nothing to anyone,

0:36:400:36:42

not a soul.

0:36:420:36:44

Because he was sworn to secrecy.

0:36:440:36:47

I then traced Brendan's friend from Belfast, using the same address

0:36:480:36:53

that the 14-year-old gave all those years ago.

0:36:530:36:56

I remember going up to Dublin with Brendan.

0:36:570:37:00

I think there was about five or six of us on that trip.

0:37:000:37:04

Brendan...

0:37:050:37:07

Brendan was a nice fella.

0:37:090:37:10

He was probably as petrified as I was at the time,

0:37:100:37:13

and the things...

0:37:130:37:16

You know, I just felt...

0:37:160:37:18

In many ways, I felt very guilty too

0:37:180:37:21

because I was sharing a room with this other boy

0:37:210:37:25

and Smyth and his behaviour

0:37:250:37:27

and what he would maybe want us to do

0:37:270:37:29

and the way he wanted us to behave.

0:37:290:37:32

I just, it's...

0:37:320:37:34

It's unbearable to think about it sometimes, you know.

0:37:340:37:38

When I tell him that Cardinal Brady was told in 1975

0:37:410:37:44

that he was being abused,

0:37:440:37:47

that his name is down on paper,

0:37:470:37:49

he is horrified.

0:37:490:37:51

And then, as it transpired

0:37:510:37:53

that Brendan had mentioned me

0:37:530:37:57

and that my name and address

0:37:570:37:59

was actually on these documents as well, it was just, like...

0:37:590:38:04

It's like a knife into your chest,

0:38:050:38:09

it's like a sudden sharp pain.

0:38:090:38:11

And the reason it hurt so much

0:38:110:38:14

is that Father Brendan Smyth continued to abuse him after 1975,

0:38:140:38:20

then his sister for another seven years,

0:38:200:38:23

and four cousins abused right up until 1988.

0:38:230:38:26

Nobody came to our house, who should have came to our house

0:38:280:38:31

and warned our family or my parents

0:38:310:38:35

and said, "Look, this is what's happening,

0:38:350:38:38

"this man is involved in this,

0:38:380:38:39

"we would strictly advise you to keep him away from the house."

0:38:390:38:43

OK, maybe I had only another year's abuse to go

0:38:430:38:47

but my sister, you know - for years after that, she was abused

0:38:470:38:51

and then lo and behold, cousins after that.

0:38:510:38:54

I have spoken to all those

0:38:590:39:01

who Brendan Boland told the Church about in 1975.

0:39:010:39:05

Four of the five children had been abused by Smyth.

0:39:050:39:10

Two of them continued to be abused after that secret enquiry.

0:39:100:39:15

All say that to the best of their knowledge,

0:39:150:39:18

their families were not warned in any way about the paedophile.

0:39:180:39:22

Brendan, poor Brendan, actually thought giving this information,

0:39:250:39:29

he was going to protect me, he was going to protect other people,

0:39:290:39:33

and thinking this was going to be the end of it.

0:39:330:39:35

And by God, it is far from the end.

0:39:350:39:37

Cardinal Brady's own career took off after 1975,

0:39:400:39:45

first away to Rome,

0:39:450:39:46

and then in 1997, made Primate of All Ireland,

0:39:460:39:50

the senior Catholic in the country.

0:39:500:39:53

By his own account, he never failed to protect any child.

0:39:530:39:56

If I found myself in the situation

0:39:560:39:59

where I was aware

0:39:590:40:03

that my failure to act

0:40:030:40:06

had allowed

0:40:060:40:08

or meant that other children were abused,

0:40:080:40:13

well then, I think I would resign.

0:40:130:40:15

'I'm writing what's called a "right of reply" letter to Cardinal Brady,

0:40:180:40:22

'telling him what we have discovered, point by point.

0:40:220:40:25

'I want to know why

0:40:250:40:26

'he didn't make sure the children he'd been told about were protected

0:40:260:40:30

'and I want to know why he and the Church seemed to minimise his role

0:40:300:40:35

'when it is plain that he carried out the investigation into Smyth.

0:40:350:40:39

'When limited news of the church investigation

0:40:390:40:42

'first broke two years ago, the Church called him an note-taker.

0:40:420:40:45

'He said he was a notary without powers, who did his job.'

0:40:450:40:49

I insist again, I did act

0:40:510:40:53

and acted effectively within that enquiry,

0:40:530:40:56

to produce the grounds for removing Father Smyth from ministry

0:40:560:41:00

and specifically, it was underlined

0:41:000:41:02

that he was not to hear confessions.

0:41:020:41:05

And that was very important.

0:41:050:41:07

The ban on Smyth wasn't enforced.

0:41:100:41:12

Here he is four years later at a special mass for the sick

0:41:120:41:16

and when Cardinal Brady says he was a notary,

0:41:160:41:19

his role was in fact that of an investigator,

0:41:190:41:22

according to his own handwritten note.

0:41:220:41:25

"I was dispatched to investigate the complaint."

0:41:250:41:29

'I needed to find a clear path

0:41:320:41:35

'through the archaic and often confusing world of canon law,

0:41:350:41:39

'the church law that Cardinal Brady was versed in

0:41:390:41:42

'and that he applied to this 1975 case.

0:41:420:41:45

'My guide is Rev Thomas Doyle, a world-renowned expert in the field.'

0:41:450:41:50

He was the investigator.

0:41:520:41:53

He was deputed to investigate, to lead the investigation,

0:41:530:41:57

to make sure that it had taken place.

0:41:570:41:59

Not simply a note-taker?

0:41:590:42:01

No, not simply... that's minimising what he actually was.

0:42:010:42:05

He did take notes

0:42:050:42:06

but he also prepared the report

0:42:060:42:09

and he authenticated the report.

0:42:090:42:11

You know that Cardinal Brady insists he did his job,

0:42:110:42:14

that he passed the information he had

0:42:140:42:16

up to his bishop. Did he do his job?

0:42:160:42:18

Just to say that I did my duty,

0:42:180:42:20

I just followed orders, I passed it up the chain,

0:42:200:42:22

is completely inadequate.

0:42:220:42:24

I mean, if he didn't do it, he should have told the bishop,

0:42:240:42:27

"The other families need to be notified,

0:42:270:42:30

"if you won't do it, I will do it."

0:42:300:42:32

The man was not a robot.

0:42:320:42:33

And these are human beings he's dealing with here.

0:42:330:42:36

So, you know, the information was very clear,

0:42:360:42:39

the testimony that Brendan apparently gave to them

0:42:390:42:42

was very, very clear and detailed

0:42:420:42:44

as well as the names of the others.

0:42:440:42:46

These are the ones we know about.

0:42:460:42:48

There could well have been a number of others.

0:42:480:42:51

That could have been prevented but it was not prevented.

0:42:510:42:54

That in itself is criminal behaviour.

0:42:540:42:56

Because the bishops, the priest, Brady, they knew

0:42:560:42:59

that this man was an abuser of children.

0:42:590:43:02

It wasn't that he was, as I said,

0:43:070:43:09

slapping their wrists with a ruler in class,

0:43:090:43:11

he was sexually assaulting them.

0:43:110:43:13

Nothing happened. Again, a cover-up.

0:43:130:43:16

Ultimately, all power in the Catholic Church resides in Rome

0:43:270:43:31

with the Pope, who appoints all the bishops,

0:43:310:43:34

all the cardinals.

0:43:340:43:36

'This is one hierarchy which doesn't pretend to be anything else.

0:43:410:43:46

'Estimates vary, but so far, the abuse scandals have cost the Church

0:43:470:43:52

'about £3 billion - and counting.'

0:43:520:43:55

'Much more vital damage has been done to its reputation

0:43:580:44:02

'and to its moral authority.'

0:44:020:44:04

'This day, senior church figures from around the globe are gathering

0:44:090:44:13

'for a conference in Rome, looking at ways of rooting out child abuse.

0:44:130:44:17

'Cardinal Sean Brady heads a small Irish delegation.

0:44:190:44:22

'I've been told that even within the church,

0:44:220:44:25

'Cardinal Brady is seen as a gravely weakened leader.

0:44:250:44:28

'I don't expect to speak to him

0:44:300:44:33

'until he has had time to respond to my letter,

0:44:330:44:36

'but I do want to speak to this man,

0:44:360:44:38

'Monsignor Charles Scicluna.

0:44:380:44:41

'He is one of the most powerful officials in the Catholic Church,

0:44:410:44:45

'the chief prosecutor.

0:44:450:44:47

'Having examined 4,000 cases of clerical abuse,

0:44:470:44:50

'he says accountability and truth are the only way forward.'

0:44:500:44:55

We need to move on from a culture of silence,

0:44:570:45:02

and where it is, we need to denounce it for what it is.

0:45:020:45:06

It is an enemy of truth

0:45:060:45:09

and an enemy of justice.

0:45:090:45:12

'I want to know what he thinks about Cardinal Brady.'

0:45:140:45:18

Cardinal Sean Brady was told in 1975

0:45:180:45:22

that a young boy was being abused at that particular point.

0:45:220:45:26

He was given that man's name, the boy's name,

0:45:260:45:29

that boy's address, where he lived,

0:45:290:45:31

and yet, that boy was abused for another year.

0:45:310:45:35

His sister was abused for seven years.

0:45:350:45:38

His four first cousins were abused until 1988,

0:45:380:45:42

many years past the 1975 information

0:45:420:45:46

that Cardinal Sean Brady, now Primate of All Ireland,

0:45:460:45:50

was given that information.

0:45:500:45:52

What you're telling me...

0:45:530:45:55

..helps us emphasise the fact

0:45:580:46:00

that when we talk about an adequate response

0:46:000:46:05

and we're talking about abuse happening,

0:46:050:46:08

it cannot be a delayed response.

0:46:080:46:11

The response to disclosure

0:46:110:46:14

should be immediate and effective,

0:46:140:46:18

and that is why the law was changed in 2010,

0:46:180:46:21

because we are on a learning curve,

0:46:210:46:23

giving the bishop authority

0:46:230:46:26

to remove a priest,

0:46:260:46:29

as a precautionary measure, immediately.

0:46:290:46:32

Cardinal Sean Brady said in 2009

0:46:320:46:34

that he would resign if he thought that any failing on his part

0:46:340:46:38

meant or lead to any child being abused. He said he would resign.

0:46:380:46:41

Should he not resign now?

0:46:410:46:43

I think that is a question you have to put to Cardinal Brady.

0:46:430:46:46

You are the chief prosecutor, as such, in terms of canon law.

0:46:460:46:50

Do you not have an opinion on this?

0:46:500:46:52

I have my opinion, and I will keep it to myself.

0:46:520:46:55

This is about accountability. You've spoken about accountability today.

0:46:550:46:59

Yes, and I think that what I've said about accountability

0:46:590:47:03

is that the Holy See has a duty

0:47:030:47:07

to bring bishops to accountability.

0:47:070:47:10

It's something that needs to be done and needs to be effected,

0:47:100:47:14

but this is where I stop with my comments on an individual case.

0:47:140:47:18

Victims say the key is

0:47:180:47:20

to get individuals, to get bishops, to get the church

0:47:200:47:23

to acknowledge its responsibility.

0:47:230:47:26

You've heard that time and time again. Here's another case

0:47:260:47:29

where a bishop, a cardinal, is not acknowledging his responsibility,

0:47:290:47:34

his personal responsibility.

0:47:340:47:36

I repeat that

0:47:360:47:39

this is something that should be put to Cardinal Brady directly.

0:47:390:47:44

And I will talk to him, because he is in town,

0:47:440:47:49

about what you have told me.

0:47:490:47:51

I will bring your concerns to him,

0:47:510:47:55

because I think that is a duty I have in charity.

0:47:550:47:58

Thank you.

0:47:580:48:00

Later, a special prayer vigil

0:48:120:48:14

seeking forgiveness for the sins of the Church against children.

0:48:140:48:18

A solemn ceremony

0:48:180:48:21

where Cardinal Brady makes his only public utterance of the week.

0:48:210:48:25

But you are a god of pardon,

0:48:250:48:28

gracious and compassionate,

0:48:280:48:31

slow to anger

0:48:310:48:33

and rich in mercy.

0:48:330:48:34

I don't think anyone could doubt

0:48:460:48:48

the sincerity of the prayers of Cardinal Sean Brady,

0:48:480:48:51

seeking forgiveness. The problem he has,

0:48:510:48:53

and the problem the Church has, is that many people,

0:48:530:48:56

especially those affected by what he did or didn't do back in 1975,

0:48:560:49:00

they want more than his prayers.

0:49:000:49:03

They want him to acknowledge

0:49:030:49:05

his own personal responsibility for what happened.

0:49:050:49:08

They want his resignation.

0:49:080:49:10

We live in the age of apology,

0:49:100:49:12

so that watching the church learning, and obviously,

0:49:120:49:15

they got a great deal of help from PR companies in how to do this,

0:49:150:49:18

how to present themselves as totally sorry,

0:49:180:49:21

and sorry became the easiest word to say.

0:49:210:49:24

"Apologise, apologise."

0:49:240:49:26

But everyone was watching something else.

0:49:260:49:28

Everyone was watching that they were not coming with full disclosure.

0:49:280:49:33

And the full disclosure was

0:49:330:49:35

that they knew that priests were moved from place to place

0:49:350:49:39

with a large number of other priests

0:49:390:49:41

knowing exactly what the issues were.

0:49:410:49:44

And parents watching this knew

0:49:440:49:46

that was not something parents would have done in Ireland

0:49:460:49:50

to other parents

0:49:500:49:51

and the church did it to them.

0:49:510:49:53

'Cardinal Brady never replied to the questions in my letter

0:49:540:49:58

'so I went and put them to him directly.'

0:49:580:50:00

Cardinal Brady, Darragh MacIntyre from the BBC. Cardinal Brady,

0:50:010:50:05

-I'd like to ask a few questions, if you don't mind.

-No, no, I'm not...

0:50:050:50:08

-Thanks very much, but I'm not ready...

-Cardinal Brady,

0:50:080:50:11

you said you would resign if you thought any action of yours

0:50:110:50:14

-had led to a child being abused.

-No, I'm not...

0:50:140:50:17

You know that children were abused,

0:50:170:50:19

in part because you failed to protect them.

0:50:190:50:22

No. I did what I was there to do.

0:50:220:50:26

-I took the evidence.

-You had names and addresses, Cardinal,

0:50:260:50:30

-of children who were being abused or at risk of being abused.

-Please...

0:50:300:50:34

And you did not protect them.

0:50:340:50:37

Sorry, lads. Excuse me.

0:50:370:50:39

-Cardinal Brady!

-Sorry, lads.

0:50:430:50:44

Cardinal Brady, was the protection of the church's reputation

0:50:440:50:48

more important than the protection of the children?

0:50:480:50:50

You had the names and addresses of children who were being abused

0:50:500:50:54

or who were at risk of being abused.

0:50:540:50:55

You failed to protect them, Cardinal.

0:50:550:50:58

He's, again...

0:51:040:51:06

..deliberately, wilfully,

0:51:070:51:11

refusing to take responsibility

0:51:110:51:14

for his actions, for his inactions,

0:51:140:51:17

which left children exposed to abuse.

0:51:170:51:19

So resplendent with power and authority

0:51:290:51:32

was the Catholic Church in Ireland,

0:51:320:51:34

its fall from grace was bound to be spectacular.

0:51:340:51:37

But no-one could ever have imagined

0:51:370:51:40

that the Catholic Church would be so trenchantly criticised

0:51:400:51:43

by an Irish Prime Minister.

0:51:430:51:45

The rape and the torture of children

0:51:480:51:51

were downplayed or managed

0:51:510:51:53

to uphold instead

0:51:530:51:56

the primacy of the institution,

0:51:560:51:58

its power, its standing

0:51:580:51:59

and its reputation.

0:51:590:52:01

The Irish government has closed its embassy to the Vatican.

0:52:020:52:07

Dublin and the Holy See want to play down tensions,

0:52:070:52:10

yet it is clear that the Church is now having to pay a price

0:52:100:52:14

for the grip it held Ireland in for so long.

0:52:140:52:18

And as the Cardinal Brady case illustrates,

0:52:180:52:21

it is not finished accounting for its sins just yet.

0:52:210:52:24

Holy Roman Catholic Ireland,

0:52:240:52:26

the Ireland that you and I grew up with, where is it now?

0:52:260:52:30

It doesn't exist any more

0:52:300:52:32

and people have discovered

0:52:320:52:34

that in abandoning their relationship to the official Church

0:52:340:52:37

and their loyalty to it, they've lost almost nothing.

0:52:370:52:41

They haven't lost their faith?

0:52:410:52:42

No, if you ask them questions about, for example, the next life

0:52:420:52:46

or eternal life, or other matters,

0:52:460:52:48

if you ask them about religion,

0:52:480:52:50

I think, you could find that maybe very little has changed,

0:52:500:52:53

but in relationship to the Church, everything has changed.

0:52:530:52:57

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord with thee, blessed art thou...

0:53:010:53:05

Church attendance has more than halved across Ireland

0:53:050:53:08

but this ancient ritual is still very much alive.

0:53:080:53:12

For more than 500 years, believers have celebrated the New Year

0:53:120:53:16

with a procession to Doon Well at Termon in Donegal.

0:53:160:53:19

Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord with thee,

0:53:190:53:22

blessed art thou amongst women...

0:53:220:53:24

The ceremony ends with the blessing of the holy water of Doon Well.

0:53:300:53:35

The water is said to have special healing powers.

0:53:400:53:43

It is in great demand.

0:53:430:53:46

-Happy New Year, everybody.

-APPLAUSE

0:53:470:53:49

The faith lives on in the people.

0:53:490:53:51

This faith is not dependent

0:53:510:53:55

on bishops and cardinals

0:53:550:53:58

or the hierarchical structures.

0:53:580:54:00

They're aware of it

0:54:000:54:02

but this is a very much, I'd use the word "earthed" faith.

0:54:020:54:07

# Lady of Knock

0:54:070:54:09

# My queen of peace

0:54:090:54:13

# And the lamb will conquer

0:54:130:54:17

# And the woman clothed in the sun

0:54:170:54:21

# Will shine her light on everyone

0:54:210:54:26

# Yes, the lamb will conquer

0:54:270:54:31

# And the woman clothed in the sun

0:54:310:54:35

# Will shine her light on everyone. #

0:54:350:54:40

In Donegal, the policeman

0:54:570:54:59

who investigated the Father Eugene Greene case

0:54:590:55:02

remains sceptical the Church will ever deal honestly with abuse.

0:55:020:55:07

People who knew about this,

0:55:070:55:08

I find them so revolting

0:55:080:55:11

because it's them, you know, that did something

0:55:110:55:14

and I believe they protected an image

0:55:140:55:17

rather than protecting a child,

0:55:170:55:20

and I believe that's where the whole fraud lies,

0:55:200:55:24

that the premise of trust was used

0:55:240:55:27

to bury the most graphic horror.

0:55:270:55:30

This would not be tolerated in any civilised society

0:55:300:55:34

and for any institution to use its power to bury this horror,

0:55:340:55:38

I believe those people should be sent to jail, basically,

0:55:380:55:41

for those grave crimes.

0:55:410:55:43

And until that day arrives that everybody is equal,

0:55:430:55:47

then I think we're only shadow-boxing with this.

0:55:470:55:50

Still others, like Martin Gallagher,

0:56:000:56:02

live with the daily reminders of the damage to their lives.

0:56:020:56:06

'This part of my life, I'll never know anything about.

0:56:080:56:12

'I know that I was very happy in my childhood before this.

0:56:120:56:16

'I got on great with everybody and it was fun,

0:56:160:56:20

'like normal children have.

0:56:200:56:22

'But from the age of 12 on,

0:56:220:56:26

'I don't know where I could be or what I could have been.

0:56:260:56:30

'I might have been just still the ordinary Martin,

0:56:300:56:35

'but without this cross to carry

0:56:350:56:38

'every day of my life.'

0:56:380:56:39

For the first time since their ordeal almost 40 years ago,

0:56:490:56:52

Brendan meets his old friend from Belfast.

0:56:520:56:56

There may be a future for them

0:56:560:56:58

supporting each other through the memories of an appalling experience

0:56:580:57:02

that no child should ever endure.

0:57:020:57:04

Oh, my God! Buddy, how are you?

0:57:040:57:06

How are you doing?

0:57:090:57:10

Oh, it's so good to see you.

0:57:130:57:15

And you, and you.

0:57:150:57:16

-It's 38 years now. 38 years.

-I know.

0:57:160:57:19

I know, brother. I'd take all that.

0:57:190:57:22

-How you keeping?

-Not too bad. You?

0:57:250:57:28

I'm all right.

0:57:280:57:29

-You've been through the wars too.

-And you.

0:57:330:57:36

I thought I'd saved you.

0:57:360:57:38

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