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DUBLIN: Worshippers at morning mass in Ireland Sunday welcomed the Pope's condemnation of the sexual abuse of children by priests, but said it was too little to prevent people turning away from the Catholic Church.
Pope Benedict XVI's pastoral letter expressed shame and remorse over a wave of revelations over the past five years of abuse committed by those entrusted with the care of young people in Ireland, in cases stretching back decades.
A brief summary of the 5,000-word letter published on Saturday was read out to congregations in many churches across the predominantly Catholic country on Sunday.
The Pope's strongly worded criticism of Irish bishops for their role in trying to suppress the claims of victims struck a chord with worshippers at the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary in Harold's Cross in south Dublin.
The head of the Church in Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady, is facing calls to resign over forcing the young victims of a serial abuser priest to sign confidentiality agreements.
One churchgoer, Eileen Keane, 45, a mother of eight-year-old twins, said: "Some of the higher-ups in the Church have been hypocritical, way up there pontificating down on top of us.
"There is no problem with a lot of the regular priests. They are all right. It's just the guys further up. They seem to have covered a lot of their tracks."
Eamonn Bannon, a 45-year-old truck driver, said he was "totally disillusioned" by the Catholic Church and the Pope's expression of remorse was insufficient to restore his faith.
"I think the apology at this stage is not enough. They need to be taking action against the people who were responsible (for the abuse) and they are not doing that.
"There is a lot of passing the buck and they are not doing anything to show the people they are really serious. Action is what is needed, not just words."
Parish priest Father Gerry Kane, who spoke to a congregation containing children in general terms about the Pope's letter, told AFP "there is an awful lot of hurt out there among different people," but he was pleased by its message.
"We will have to see where it takes us. My feeling is, don't deny it and don't wallow in it. We are here for a reason. We are here for our families, we are here for our faith, we are here to pray."
The church in Harold's Cross attracts families and younger people who have moved into the area in the past five years, changing the profile of what was formerly an old working-class district.
A few kilometres (miles) away, the mainly elderly parishioners braving a biting cold wind for the 8:00 am mass at the Church of St Paul of the Cross in Mount Argus were more reluctant to point the finger at senior Church figures.
Mary O'Connell, a pensioner, said there were "bad apples in every basket" and the Catholic Church was no different.
"The Pope's letter could lead to a renewal in the Church but there are some people I don't think he is ever going to please. Like everything else, it will please some and not others."
Betty Redmond said she was afraid the abuse scandals would only accelerate the trend of ageing congregations, as the youth increasingly turned away from the institution which has underpinned life in Ireland for centuries.
"We just feel so let down by it all. Hopefully the Pope's letter will help," she said.
"What has been happening is just giving the young people an excuse not to go to mass. They said to you 'we told you it was all rubbish'."
Thomas Pierce, an unemployed man in his fifties, said the Pope had missed an opportunity to deliver the message in person in Ireland, rather than issuing it from the Vatican.
"I think the Pope's message is coming too late. And he has a damned cheek not coming over here in person to deliver it. That would have gone a long way, it definitely would have appealed to young people."
- AFP
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