OPINION: Time to force the Church to pay up for abuse

It is now over three decades since the first reports of abuse by members of the Catholic Church emerged.
We have heard harrowing accounts of monstrous abuse perpetuated by individuals like Fr Fortune, facilitated by the Church, and reports on systemic cruelty by members of orders like the Christian Brothers. The Ferns Report, the Murphy Report, the Cloyne Report, the Irish Child Abuse Commission, the Mother and Baby Homes report have detailed heartrending testimony from survivors, damaged by power-hungry predators and violent bullies.
We have made victims fight, tooth and nail, for the measly compensation to which they are more than entitled. For generations, this abuse was perpetuated by Church and State, and in the case of the former, enabled by the State, and often by society itself.
And while the State cannot look with any great pride on how it has atoned for its crimes, it – and we, as a society – has failed, desperately, to hold the Church to account for its actions and force it to pay its dues in redress.
In light of last week’s scoping inquiry reports, enough is enough. It is long past time for entreaties. It is time to force them to pay up.
This week has seen a glut of politicians bleating that religious orders “must put their hands up and come forward” to pay redress. No amount of handwringing admonishments or moralising has worked to date, and it is not going to work now. Strong action, grounded in law, must be initiated to prevent taxpayers’ money from being diverted – yet again – towards paying the bills of the Catholic Church.
In 2002, Fianna Fáil Minister Michael Woods incredibly did an infamous ‘deal’ with the Church, essentially allowing them to dodge consequences and letting them off the hook on redress. At the time, 18 orders agreed with the State to contribute a measly IR£100 million in cash and property to the compensation fund, then estimated at a tiny €250 million. In turn, the orders were indemnified against lawsuits. Meanwhile, the State’s liability was left open-ended, and the bills were dumped on us. In 2011, Woods even doubled down on the farcical agreement, defending the deal as a “great thing” done by the State. The State was culpable in the abuse, but it has paid the lion’s share of dues. Meanwhile, the Church is laughing at politicians and taxpayers.
Unlike Woods, this government has the benefit of hindsight, and has the power to create new ‘deals’ and to compel the Church to either pay up, or stump up its assets. Regardless of the disruption of an upcoming election, it is work that would be likely to gain unanimous cross-party support.
Surely, the vast majority of good-thinking people agree that the global institution of the Church should belatedly, by its own volition, start making amends for its own sins, by digging into its gilt-lined coffers and paying their fair share into redress schemes not just in Ireland, but around the world. If they do not do so voluntarily, no priest can credibly remain in a position to preach from the pulpits about morality. The Church needs to face up to the extreme damage, hurt and harm it has caused, and start following in the footsteps of Jesus by making retributions, not just in words, but in actions, before it is worthy of even a modicum of respect in a civilised society.
If – and it is highly likely that they will – the Church continues to refuse to contribute, then two things need to happen.
Firstly, in Ireland, the Government needs to start playing hardball, and aggressively examine means of legally compelling the Church to contribute financially, as well as making their existence very uncomfortable by alluding to its cruel belligerence at every possible opportunity.
This will require political bravery, and that is not without precedent – remember Enda Kenny’s Cloyne speech? It is time to get off bended knee, call out hypocrisy for what it is and leave no stone unturned in the quest to get the Church pay reparations for its barbarism. Fair is fair, but moral decency is not just the preserve of those in the pews.
Secondly – and this will be an uncomfortable truth for many readers – the Church’s own congregation needs to start looking at its own tacit endorsement of the Church’s behaviour, particularly on a financial level. Whatever about attendance at the administration of the sacraments – an understandably key and non-negotiable aspect of practising faith for many – it is strange that attendees are expected to pay for the privilege.
We are told that the weekly contributions made by parishioners cannot be stopped because they pay our local priests. The Church is an obscenely wealthy organisation, and if it cannot afford to ensure its own priests are looked after, then there is something very wrong with its accounting model.
The only way any large institution these days can realistically be challenged is by depriving it of income. Mayo in particular has a strong and proud history of boycott that could well be applied in this situation.
It is also important to recognise that faith and Church are two very distinct things, and that the former does not depend on the latter.
If the Church does not want to truly, meaningfully acknowledge the harm it has caused, and finally start paying reparations, then it is long past time it should be forced to do so.