Wednesday 26 TH October 2005 – 6pm

The level of hurt that exists in our society due to child abuse cannot be measured. Child abuse has been a sad and tragic reality of our history and we must do all in our power to ensure that it does not occur now or in the future. We as a society and as Church must be there to support each other, especially the hurt and vulnerable, in whatever way we can.

We must all work together to ensure that all youth activities that take place in any church context in the Limerick Diocese will be done in such a way as to provide children with the safest possible environment.

The safety of children is of paramount importance in all parish activities. To this purpose, the Diocese of Limerick has the following measures in place to ensure the protection of children.

The Limerick Diocesan Child Protection Policy comes from the ‘Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference’, “Working with Children and Young People in The Catholic Church Community in Ireland”, July 2003. This is the policy, which applies for the Limerick Diocese. The latest Church policy document Our Children: Our Church is currently being brought into operation under the direction of the National Board. The diocesan contact person is available at 087 3233564.

Limerick Diocese organised Diocesan meetings in conjunction with the Child Protection Office in Maynooth. These meetings explored child protection issues with representatives of all parishes, including Priests.

The Diocese also sought independent/professional advice about the way forward, which is now guiding the work of the Child Protection Committee.

The Child Protection Committee of the Limerick Diocese meets on a monthly basis. Meetings are co-chaired by Ms. Catherine Kelly, Director of Limerick Youth Service and Fr. John O’ Shea, Parish Priest of Abbeyfeale. The purpose of this committee is to provide training in the area of child protection for every parish in the Limerick Diocese.

• Ms. Aoife Walsh is qualified as a child protection trainer for the diocese.  She works in Youth Ministry at the Limerick Diocesan Pastoral Centre.

• To date, eighteen people from the diocese are being trained as facilitators in the area of child protection with Fr. Derek Leonard (who also qualified as a child protection trainer) and Ms. Aoife Walsh.

• These facilitators visit each parish in their cluster (group of parishes) and present an information session in child protection for those working with young people.

• The information session is for those working and ministering to young people and children in parishes. Any group using parish property to work with children will also need to attend this session.

• The aim of this information session is that each parish will produce its own child protection policy and that each person working with young people in a Church context is fully aware of Child Protection Guidelines.

• This parish policy will be displayed alongside the current diocesan child protection notice in all parish properties. The Diocesan Child Protection notice is a list of contacts (e.g. Gardaí, H.S.E., Midwest Area, the Diocese)  that can be made if anyone has a concern regarding the welfare of children.
  
• To ensure that each parish formulates its own policy, the parish Pastoral Council/Committee is required to ratify the policy and then submit it to Ms. Aoife Walsh at the Diocesan Pastoral Centre. A record of each parish policy will be kept at the Pastoral Centre. Bishop Murray will check that this information is clearly displayed when he visits the parishes for Confirmation.

Case Management Committee

The Limerick Diocese also has in place a “Case Management Committee”. This committee is jointly set up with the Diocese of Cloyne. It is chaired by Fr. Gerard Garrett of the Limerick Diocese.

This committee meets at least every three months.

This is a competent group of expert people (Solicitor, Canon Lawyer, Psychologist, Retired Garda Officer, Pastoral Counsellor, Priests, Youth Worker and Secondary School Principal).

It has two functions – Advisory and Supervisory.

Advisory

• It advises Bishops Murray and Magee on how best to proceed in individual concrete cases.

Supervisory

• It hears from the ‘designated person’ whose function it is to hear and inquire into complaints on behalf of the Bishop.
• It also hears from the ‘contact persons’ (appointed by the Bishop) whose function it is to provide pastoral support and ongoing contact and information for complainants and accused.
• It keeps individual cases under ongoing review.

Designated Person

If you have a concern regarding child protection please contact the person designated to receive such concerns at 087 3233564.

You may also contact Bishop Murray through the Diocesan Offices at 061 315856.

It is further planned, that the names of local people along with the ‘designated person’, will be displayed in every parish-meeting place. This will be to ensure easy access for any person with a concern regarding the welfare of children.

The Bishop, Priests and Staff of the Limerick Diocese are committed to the protection of children. We thank the people of the Diocese for their support through some very difficult years. Together, we are committed to ensure that the Church’s ministry to children can take place in a confident and safe environment.

Chronological order of publications and initiatives taken by the Irish Bishops’ Conference in relation to child protection:

1994 - Irish Catholic Bishops’ Advisory Committee on Child Sexual Abuse by Priests and Religious convened under the Chairmanship of Most Rev. Laurence Forristal, Bishop of Ossory. Its purpose was to identify guidelines for Church policy in instances or suspicions of child sexual abuse by a priest or religious. The membership of the Committee included representatives from the professions of Psychiatry, Paediatrics, Law, Canon Law, Clergy, Religious and Communications.  

1996 - Publication of Child Sexual Abuse: Framework for a Church Response (commonly referred to as: ‘The Green Book’) ( www.catholiccommunications.ie/PastLet/csaframework.html ).

This report recognises the paramount need to safeguard the welfare of children. It emphasizes the need for a strong commitment to prevention through a range of measures to reduce the risk of such abuse in the future.  

1997 - National Resource Group established, under Chairmanship of Bishop Forristal. Its key terms of reference were: * To serve as a resource for the Catholic Church in Ireland in responding to the issue of Child Sexual Abuse by priests and religious; * To facilitate the implementation of the recommendations of ‘The Green Book’.   Throughout 1997 the National Resource Group provided training programmes for all personnel appointed by dioceses - delegates, deputy delegates, support persons and priest advisors.  

1998 - The National Resource Group organised a Consultation Seminar for English-speaking Episcopal Committees dealing with Child Sexual Abuse - representatives of the Episcopal Conferences of eleven countries participated (Dundrum, Co Tipperary 18-21 May).  

1999 – Bishops’ Committee on Child Abuse established under the chairmanship of Bishop Eamonn Walsh to liaise with the Government proposed Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (Laffoy Commission). Membership of the Committee included representatives from the professions of Psychology, Canon Law, Counselling, Teaching, Clergy and Religious.  

2001 - January - The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland were commissioned by the Bishops' Committee on Child Abuse to conduct a research project to examine the impact of clerical child sexual abuse on: (i) victims and their extended families; (ii) perpetrators and their extended families; (iv) colleagues; (v) parishes and the wider community. The results of this extensive study: Time to Listen, were published in December 2003.  

2001 - July - The Child Protection Office of the Irish Bishops’ Conference was established and Mr Paul Bailey was appointed as Executive Director. See www.cpo.ie.  

2001 - September - The Bishops’ Committee on Child Protection was established under the chairmanship of Bishop Eamonn Walsh and it replaced the Bishops ’ Committee on Child Abuse.  

2002 - April - The Bishops’ Conference announce a Nationwide Independent Audit into handling of all complaints of child sexual abuse by diocesan priests or religious in diocesan appointments as far back as 1940.  

2002 - July - Judge Gillian Hussey was appointed as chairperson of the Catholic Church Commission on Child Sexual Abuse (Hussey Commission)  

2002 - September - Judge Hussey announces the members of her Commission which drawn from the professions of Social Work, Psychology, Law, Law Enforcement, Criminology, and a Social Historian.  

2002 - December - Judge Hussey decides to cease the work of her Commission following the announcement by the Minister for Justice for the: “preparation of a scheme for a statutory basis for a new mechanism for investigating into matters of significant and urgent public importance”. It was the Minister’s intention that such a scheme would include the handling of clerical sexual abuse. Thus, Judge Hussey believed her Commission would be duplicating the work of the State.  

2003 - June - The Working Group on Child Protection, chaired by management consultant Ms Maureen Lynott, was established by the Bishops’ Conference, Conference of Religious in Ireland (CORI) and the Irish Missionary Union (IMU) to develop a comprehensive and integrated child protection policy for the Irish Catholic Church.   The Working Group had representatives from Social Work, Psychology, Law Enforcement, CORI, the Bishops Committee on Child Protection, Teaching as well as two survivors of clerical and religious sexual abuse.  

2003 - August - A set of good practice guidelines entitled Working with Children and Young People in the Catholic Church Community in Ireland were developed by the Bishops’ Child Protection Office in collaboration with its Committee on Child Protection. These guidelines were distributed to all dioceses and religious congregations.

2003 - December - Publication of Time to Listen - Confronting Child Sexual Abuse by Catholic Clergy in Ireland. This report was a milestone in that it was the first occasion internationally in which the Catholic Church had commissioned independent research into clerical child sexual abuse. The study not only assessed the impact of abuse on victims and abusers, but it also examined these effects on their families, colleagues and on wider society. See: (http://www.catholiccommunications.ie/rcsi/).  

2004 - The Bishops’ Child Protection Office commences its National Training Initiative in Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth. Twenty participants from nine dioceses are being trained as Child Protection Trainers. Following their accreditation in June 2005, they will train Facilitators in their own dioceses to provide information and support in developing safe practice procedures for dealing with young people within parishes.  

2005 - January - The Working Group on Child Protection (the Lynott Group) unanimously endorses its final report ‘Our Children, Our Church’. This is a comprehensive and integrated child protection policy for the Irish Catholic Church.   * 2005 – June - ‘Our Children, Our Church’ was approved and adopted by the Irish Bishops Conference.  

2005 – October – The Bishops of Ireland received informal approval from Rome to implement the document ‘Our Children, Our Church’ on an interim basis.   The Bishops are awaiting its final approval from Rome which will make it law for the whole of the Irish Church. This will mean that all Dioceses and Religious Congregations will have to observe it. In the meantime, the Bishop will go ahead with implementing its structures on an interim basis.