I hope that it is okay to quote from a piece in today’s Irish Times written by Derek Scally. Please see below.
What caught my eye was his referencing EU Data legislation.
I was wondering whether there might be a Freedom of Information angle to naming these Jesuit priests to whom you refer?
Tom M
From today’s Irish Times 👇
‘’And how much of the golden rule of Catholic Ireland – don’t give scandal – lies behind the battle over survivor files: where State officials redact information arbitrarily and religious orders block access entirely?
Contravening European data protection law and stringing along survivors for further decades are lesser evils, it seems, than lifting the lid on our collective complicity.
[ Mother-and-baby-home investigation to include DNA profiling using genetic material from maternal lineOpens in new window ]
Yes, priests and religious exerted remarkable power in the past. Yes, many people had little or no agency to push back. But many people did have agency, opportunity and means – but still didn’t act. Acknowledging our choices as individuals and as communities in Catholic Ireland – and mourning the consequences for ourselves and others, even today – remains unfinished business.
Denying this truth leaves us emotionally blocked as a people. We superficially sympathise with survivors but, because we avoid gazing at ourselves in the historical mirror, cannot really empathise. That is why the lost souls of our Catholic past kept haunting us in the present.’’
My goodness, that's an interesting angle, Tom. Personally, I'm happy to blame the RC church lock, stock and barrel. It's very easy for people of our generation and younger to imagine that "push back" was possible when the men in black ran the country. The data angle re the naming of the accused is also very interesting!
Tom, thank you. It’s hard to know whether the Jesuits in Ireland are trying to protect their reputation or their legal position by remaining silent on pedophiles within their ranks. I’m not sure that their motives are important, because their moral cowardice and ethical hypocrisy are unchanged regardless of motive.
Hi Tom D,
I hope that it is okay to quote from a piece in today’s Irish Times written by Derek Scally. Please see below.
What caught my eye was his referencing EU Data legislation.
I was wondering whether there might be a Freedom of Information angle to naming these Jesuit priests to whom you refer?
Tom M
From today’s Irish Times 👇
‘’And how much of the golden rule of Catholic Ireland – don’t give scandal – lies behind the battle over survivor files: where State officials redact information arbitrarily and religious orders block access entirely?
Contravening European data protection law and stringing along survivors for further decades are lesser evils, it seems, than lifting the lid on our collective complicity.
[ Mother-and-baby-home investigation to include DNA profiling using genetic material from maternal lineOpens in new window ]
Yes, priests and religious exerted remarkable power in the past. Yes, many people had little or no agency to push back. But many people did have agency, opportunity and means – but still didn’t act. Acknowledging our choices as individuals and as communities in Catholic Ireland – and mourning the consequences for ourselves and others, even today – remains unfinished business.
Denying this truth leaves us emotionally blocked as a people. We superficially sympathise with survivors but, because we avoid gazing at ourselves in the historical mirror, cannot really empathise. That is why the lost souls of our Catholic past kept haunting us in the present.’’
My goodness, that's an interesting angle, Tom. Personally, I'm happy to blame the RC church lock, stock and barrel. It's very easy for people of our generation and younger to imagine that "push back" was possible when the men in black ran the country. The data angle re the naming of the accused is also very interesting!
Tom, thank you. It’s hard to know whether the Jesuits in Ireland are trying to protect their reputation or their legal position by remaining silent on pedophiles within their ranks. I’m not sure that their motives are important, because their moral cowardice and ethical hypocrisy are unchanged regardless of motive.
There is no doubting their moral cowardice and hypocrisy, Paul!