Parishioners should not have to pay, says victim
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Wednesday March 03 2010
IT IS THE church administration which should shoulder the responsibility for sex abuse cases, not the people who attend Mass and 'put pennies on the plate', according to Wexfordman Pat Jackman.
As a teenager, Pat was one of the victims of the late Fr. Seán Fortune, the notorious Poulfur curate who took his own life shortly before he was due to be tried in court for sex offences.
Pat eventually settled a civil action against the Diocese of Ferns in the High Court, in a case that dragged on for seven years.
Reacting to Bishop Brennan's request this week for parishes to help in paying compensation and legal bills arising from clerical child sex abuse, Pat said: 'It's a little bit on the cheeky side when you consider that the Catholic Church is one of the wealthiest institutions in the world'.
He was struck by one particular quote from the Bishop – 'That I did not cause the problem is not the response of the Christian'.
'At the end of the day, the responsibility for what happened lies with the administration of the Catholic Church. It should not be passed on to the parishioners who put their pennies on the plate,' said Pat.
'It is not their responsibility to pay. This is a sensitive issue. There is still a strong sense of disquiet out there about the issue and asking parishes to accept financial responsibility for it may not be the right step.'
Pat, who is still involved in the church through his music and choral work, is aware of the financial difficulties arising from the sex abuse bill.
'The impact on the finances of the church is huge. They have been struggling with it for a long time. But I think that if they had been a bit more pro-active in the beginning in how they handled these cases, it wouldn't have cost them as much.'
'My case went on for seven years. There are agreed amounts on the levels of settlement. If it had been settled seven years earlier, the amount I received would have been significantly less.'
'The system for settling these cases is very long-winded. The church is being strapped by its own legal advice.'
He doesn't agree with people who say 'let them sell off the Bishop's palace'. That is the 'same old reactionary clap trap', in his view.
But he believes that the bill for clerical sex abuse is 'a a pill that the Church must swallow', and that it should look upwards for financial help and not send out the begging bowl to parishes.
'To turn around to the public and say, we're sorry but we need a little bit of help, is a little bit childish', said Pat.
