Yes, unfortunately this latest ‘turn’ is causing quite a stir here in Ireland. To be honest, I don’t really know what to make of it really… On the surface it seems that Cardinal Connell is involved in a cover-up of abuse cases, but we can’t really be sure. The media are, as always, stirring up the notion that the current archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, and the former archbishop are ‘at war’ with each other - although there was, at some stage in the last few months, a grave break-down in communications between the two.
The thing is that people don’t trust Cardinal Connell since the abuse controversies erupted a number of years ago. Dr Martin has been a breath of fresh air to the archdiocese because of his policy of openness, and one gets the sense that he is actually listening to people. Because of the mistrust towards the Cardinal, it is difficult for people to consider that he is doing anything other than covering up more scandals. According to todays edition of the Irish Catholic newspaper, the Cardinal is concerned about principles rather than covering up files - and that is possibly the other side of the coin. There are victims who came to (then) Archbishop Connell on the basis that he treated their cases in strict confidentiality- they simply wanted the archbishop to know what had happened to them, rather than going through numerous enquiries. We have to remember that this is also a possibility, although it would be better, if that is the case, for the Cardinal to let us know. I want the full truth as much as anyone, but I think we mustn’t rush to judge the Cardinal until we are sure of the full story.