COMMENTARY

Message from Ireland

BISHOP HEGARTY WELCOMES VOICE OF THE FAITHFUL INITIATIVE
Report from VOTF Ireland Coordinator Sean O’Conaill

The Bishop of Derry, Dr. Seamus Hegarty, has expressed his support and welcome for a request from Voice of the Faithful (Ulster) for parish prayer services on behalf of all those hurt and bewildered by instances of clerical child sex abuse. These included especially the victims of this abuse and their families, as well as innocent priests shocked by what had happened.

Responding by letter to a request for his support for such prayer services in February, Bishop Hegarty wrote: “not only would I ‘like’ to be associated with your initiative, I would welcome it.” He also offered to meet with representatives of Voice of the Faithful “to progress this further.”

This meeting took place on March 10th in Derry at Bishop’s House. Bishop Hegarty declared that he would propose to an impending priests’ conference on March 23rd that such services be held at parish level, to be inclusive of the whole parish community.

Voice of the Faithful had written to Bishop Hegarty in February 2006 in response to the Irish bishops’ document “Towards Healing” of February 2005, which had called for a whole-church effort to meet the challenge of abuse generally in Irish society. VOTF Ireland welcomed the document and declared itself ready to respond to that challenge.

At the meeting on March 10th there was a frank exchange of views on a variety of challenges facing the church at present. VOTF representatives strongly expressed the hope that the Irish church would soon adapt its structures to give a sense of inclusion to those many lay people who presently feel excluded from its deliberations. They also expressed serious concern about the disillusionment and departure from the church of so many young people and stressed the need for a whole-church response.