Irish bishop lashes out at media coverage of scandal
March 11, 2010
At the conclusion of the Irish bishops’ spring meeting, during which the assembled prelates agreed to “undertake and lead penitential acts” in reparation for the clerical abuse scandal, an Irish bishop lashed out at the media.
“Could I just say with all this emphasis on cover-up, the cover-up has gone on for centuries, not just in the Church,” said 74-year-old Bishop Christopher Jones of Elphin at a press conference. “It’s going on today in families, in communities, in societies. Why are you singling out the Church?”
“I object to the way the Church is being isolated and the focus on the Church,” the bishop added. “We know we’ve made mistakes. Of course we’ve made mistakes but why this huge isolation of the Church and this huge focus on cover-up in the Church when it has been going on for centuries?”
“It’s only now, for the first time ever, that victims have been given a voice to publicly express their pain and their suffering. And, before that, for centuries, no one spoke.”
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