Full text of Bishop Moriarty's statement [Irish bishop's resignation]

[Yellow_Belle]

A refreshingly honest statement from a man who has shown real compassion and integrity.

Extract from statement from Bishop Jim Moriarty on the the Pope’s acceptance of his resignation as Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin.

When I announced before Christmas that I was offering my resignation to the Holy Father, I explained what I hoped it might achieve — “I hope it honours the truth that the survivors have so bravely uncovered and opens the way to a better future for all concerned."

The truth is that the long struggle of survivors to be heard and respected by church authorities has revealed a culture within the Church that many would simply describe as unchristian. People do not recognise the gentle, endless love of the Lord in narrow interpretations of responsibility and a basic lack of compassion and humility. This has been profoundly dispiriting for all who care about the Church. As I stated in my contribution at the recent gathering of Irish Bishops with the Holy Father — “Let us be clear, our failures have damaged our people’s faith and the strength of our witness."

The truth is also that the Church is ‘at the same time holy and always in need of being purified, always follows the way of penance and renewal’ (Lumen Gentium 8). I believe the spiritual well-being of the People of God demands that this principle of the Church as always in need of reform, which was embraced at the Second Vatican Council, should again come to the forefront of Church life. I believe, as I said at the recent Vatican gathering “that the goal should be a new fellowship (cf. Acts 4:32-37); a deeper sharing of the mission that transcends the kind of clerical culture that led us here.”

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