Church a safe place for children

THE Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh has claimed that there has been no complaint of child sexual abuse against any priest in the diocese about any incidents after 1990.

Speaking at the launch of a new diocesan policy document entitled Safeguarding Children, on Tuesday night, the bishop stated that the Church could now “guarantee” it “is a very safe place” for children. And, he added, he is confident that the Diocese of Killaloe has done all it can to ensure the clerical child sexual abuse that has happened in the past will not happen again.
Addressing the group of parish workers and clergy at the Clare Inn this week, Bishop Walsh, who is due to retire in a few weeks’ time, said, “I’m very confident that no matter how awful, and it has been awful what occurred in the past, I am confident that as a Church, that we are taking this matter very seriously. I am confident that we have done all that is humanly possible; that what has happened in the past will not happen again. And we can guarantee that children involved in church activities, it is a very safe place to be involved, as it ought to be.”
He told those present that over the past 16 years, there has been “no other aspect of my ministry as a bishop that has occupied so much time, so much energy, carried with it so much pain and shame”.
“It was a very painful area to deal with but I also saw it as a privilege to work with people who have been deeply hurt and to try to listen to them and to bring some healing to the awful hurt caused by sexual abuse,” he continued.
He said he wanted to assure those in the diocese that things had changed for the better.
“You get the impression reading the papers sometimes that we have learned nothing in the meantime or that nothing has changed. I want to assure you that things have changed and changed a great deal. One statistic that I put before you is an indication of that. I’ve met many, many victims, one is too many, over the last 16 years. But on our files, there is no complaint in relation to abuse by any priest in this diocese. There is no complaint of something that happened after 1990. In other words, in the past 20 years, there has been no complaint in relation to an incident that happened within those 20 years. All the complaints that I have met and dealt with have been prior to 1990. I just want to reassure you that things have changed. Ok, I can’t guarantee you that nothing happened since 1990 but I think this is a fair indication. So I confidently say that a lot of things have changed in this area,” Bishop Walsh stated.
Bishop Walsh also paid tribute to those who assisted him in compiling the new policy and procedures document, which outlines preventative measures, training, definitions, principles and procedures for safeguarding children in all aspects of Church activity.
Fr Pat Malone, who is the chair of the Child Safeguarding Committee, outlined what changes the new policy document brings.
“One of the main ways it differs is that it tries to have one approach for the whole Church. With the launch of this document, we are subscribing to the national board for safeguarding children, which allows them at any stage to come and have a look at how we monitor child safeguarding issues in our diocese. So we have signed up to the implementation of the national policy. So the national board has a greater significance in looking at what we are doing. It wouldn’t have had that type of involvement previously, they were there more as a support and as a help,” he explained.
The document also emphasises a stronger collaboration between the statutory authorities and the Church.
“If someone discloses abuse in the confessional, that’s protected by the seal but in any other situation, there is no such thing as confidentiality. Once the issue has been disclosed, then it must be reported to the statutory authorities. So there is a really strong emphasis on working with the statutory authorities so we would be working very closely with the HSE and gardaí in the diocese in trying to ensure that children are safe,” he explained.
He stated that another function of the document is to reaffirm the local community as child safeguards, as well as highlighting the importance of the parish in implementing policies and reporting incidents. The document further states that where an allegation is made, the complainant is also encouraged to report it to the gardaí and to the HSE.

New diocesan guidelines lay down clear rules for investigating abuse claims
The Killaloe Diocese recently launched its updated policy and procedures in relation to safeguarding children this week, which provides parishes with clear guidelines for dealing with allegations of abuse and preventative measures.
Entitled Safeguarding Children, the document has eight sections which relate to issues of policy, principles and procedures, preventing harm to children, training, communicating the church’s safeguarding message, access to advice and support, implementing and monitoring agreed policy and record-keeping.
The policy document outlines that there is a communal responsibility for the care of children within the parish and highlights that children are welcome to participate in church activities.
It promotes a partnership with the civil authorities whereby every allegation is reported to the HSE and gardaí. The policy emphasises that even when an allegation is made there is a presumption of innocence until a person has been convicted in court or if they make admissions.
It outlines that the duty of investigating any allegations lies with the HSE and the gardaí. In such instances, the HSE’s role is to investigate if something has happened to a child, if there are other children that need protection or if a child needs to be referred to a specific service. The role of the gardaí is set out to establish if a crime has been committed.
Other aspects of the policy outline the definitions of abuse, whether it is physical, emotional, sexual or neglect. It then looks at how to recognise abuse. It goes through the process following a disclosure, whether it is a child or an adult who discloses abuse.
It is stressed that the person to whom the disclosure is made cannot and must not promise to keep it a secret. That person is also encouraged to take notes, either contemporaneously or as soon as possible after the disclosure. These notes are then added to any file kept on that allegation. It also stresses that such files and information must be kept on record for a period of 20 years.
The next step is to contact one of the diocesan delegates who then passes it on to the HSE, gardaí, the bishop and the national board for safeguarding children. While the person complained against may be asked to stop ministering whatever they were doing.
There is also a whole section on prevention that relates to a wide variety of safe recruitment and garda vetting practices, a code of behaviour for staff working with children and the running of safe activities.
Under the code of behaviour, it stresses that adults must avoid being alone with children and not to meet privately with a child without parental permission. Other codes of behaviour include never laying a hand on a child and respecting the privacy of others. While under running safe activities, there is an onus to provide suitable supervision, ensure that a complaint procedure is operational and that the relevant insurance is obtained.
The churches in each parish must also now display the parish policy statement, numbers for the gardaí, the HSE and the delegates.
Under the section regarding access to advice and support, the policy outlines that the complainant should have a support person and that the person complained about should have an advisor. They explain that the delegates’ job has been expanded from what was in place before.
The delegates now oversees the whole allegation process and liase with the statutory body. They also inform the person complained against. There is a new role of parish safeguarding person, formerly the parish rep, who will oversee and ensure the guidelines are carried out. While the diocesan safeguarding committee ensure that the guidelines are operating. A further committee, known as the advisory committee, deal with the allegations, while reports are sent to the National Board for Safeguarding of Children and the National Office for Safeguarding Children which is also responsible for training.
The new documents have been distributed to each parish and are available locally for consultation.