“Church must protect children”
THE Bishop of Derry, Dr Seamus Hegarty has stressed
that all allegations of child sexual abuse in his
cross-border diocese are reported to the PSNI and
Gardai.
Dr Hegarty was speaking at the launch of the
‘Safeguarding Children Policy and Procedures
Document’ attended by representatives from the Derry
diocese’s 50 parishes, in An Grianan Hotel, Burt.
“I wish to state clearly tonight that all
allegations of child abuse that are received by the
diocese are reported to the civil authorities in
accordance with the national guidelines of the
Catholic Church in Ireland,” said Bishop Hegarty.
“Words on a page will not protect children but
proper implementation of best practice will help to
minimize risk and prevent the serious errors of the
past from recurring.”
The new Derry diocesan document sets out a number of
policies and procedures in relation to child abuse
including the prompt reporting of abuse to the civil
authorities; a strong code of conduct for all adult
personnel, children and young people to prevent
children from harm and a commitment to ongoing
training and education for all church personnel to
ensure they have the knowledge, skills and
confidence to perform their roles.
Bishop Hegarty said he was grateful to all lay
parishioners and clergy for their “ongoing
commitment to protecting children and young people
in the Church”.
The Derry Diocesan Child Safeguarding Committee and
men and women from the diocese with expertise in
working with children and young people, helped
prepare the new guidelines.
Also present at An Grianan Hotel on Tuesday night
was National Board for Safeguarding Children chief
executive, Ian Elliot and members of the social
services from both sides of the border.
Monsignor Eamon Martin, recently appointed vicar
general of the Derry diocese and widely tipped to
succeed Bishop Hegarty upon his retirement, gave the
opening address. He said it may take a long time to
rebuild trust in the Church that had been
“grievously damaged”. Msgr Martin said: “In all our
contacts with children, they have a fundamental
right to be protected, respected and nurtured. All
young people need to feel confident that they are
safe with everyone they meet in Church settings,
that their parish activities are closely monitored
and that the horrific things that happened to
children in the past won’t happen to them.”
More than 250 lay people and clergy in the Diocese
have recently received specialist training in
safeguarding children. |
