
    from Workers Solidarity No 44

    paper of the Irish anarchist
    Workers Solidarity Movement

          Child Molesters & Churchmen

WHEN THE CASE of Father Brendan Smyth, the paedophile 
priest, came out, the whole country was revolted. But 
while the politicians attempted to score political 
points off each other, many important questions were not 
asked. Here was an unrepentant child molester, carrying 
out sexual assaults on hundreds of children over a 
period of forty years, with the full knowledge of the 
Catholic Church. What sort of twisted religious "morals" 
could justify the Church protecting such a man, for so 
long? Anarchists have always opposed clerical control of 
education.  How can we allow the Church, which behaves 
like this, to continue to be in charge of our schools?

Father Michael Carney

We do not need any more evidence of what is going on in 
our schools. Father Michael Carney, from Galway, was 
given a 15 month suspended sentence for sexual assault 
on a student. An unnamed priest in the Creggan, in 
Derry, is at the centre of a child abuse investigation. 
This is only the tip of the iceberg.

Any of us who went to a Christian Brothers school will 
remember the physical and sexual abuse that many of the 
pupils had to suffer on a regular basis.  Just before 
Christmas a religious brother was sentenced to seven 
years in jail for raping a 10 year old girl.

Even the most defenceless children are not safe. At 
least fifteen children, in Madonna House, have been 
sexually abused. The State has now started 
investigations into many other Church controlled homes.

Well over 90% of primary and secondary schools are 
controlled by the Catholic hierarchy. Control of the 
school means the Church controls everything; the hiring 
and firing of the teachers, and the entire ethos, 
principals and teaching of the school. The taxpayer, 
through the State, is left to pay the teachers' 
salaries, and school maintenance.

Death of Sheila Hodgers

It is not only in the sector of education that the 
church has control. Until recently, the Catholic 
hierarchy controlled the ethics committees of most 
hospitals. They decided the ethos of the hospitals, and 
made life and death decisions. The death of Sheila 
Hodgers, in 1983, was a direct result of Catholic 
ethics.

Sheila Hodgers, who was pregnant and suffering from 
cancer, was refused treatment, which could have saved 
her life, on the grounds that it would damage her 
foetus. Both Sheila and the baby died, soon after birth.

Treatment was refused because it is Catholic ethics to 
put the potential life of a foetus before that of the 
woman carrying the foetus. So it was okay to allow 
Sheila Hodgers to die, if there was any chance at all of 
the baby being born alive.

The Catholic hierarchy influences the State in other 
ways. As well as direct representations to government, 
they use lay organisations such as, Opus Dei and the 
Knights of St Columbanus, to secretly infiltrate 
decision making positions.

Justice Rory O'Hanlon, of the High Court, has confessed 
to membership of Opus Dei. But members of Opus Dei rank 
high up in the gardai, the health services and in 
education.

Fianna Fail

Fianna Fail used to be known as the Bishops Party, due 
to its allegiance with the Catholic Church. Many members 
of Fianna Fail are in the Knights of St Columbanus. At 
least one, Michael Woods, is in Opus Dei.

The Catholic hierarchy have influenced, to a greater or 
lesser extent, virtually every decision that the State 
has made over our lives. They have constantly opposed 
measures that would make our lives better; the Mother 
and Child Scheme, the Welfare State, women's right to 
life, abortion, travel, information and equal job 
opportunities, divorce, contraception, equal rights for 
homosexuals, free speech, funding for the rape crisis 
centres and for child support groups, strikes, and so 
on.

Referenda victory

But every cloud has a silver lining. It appears that the 
tight grasp of the Church is weakening. The three 
referenda held after the 'X case', resulted in the 
'Right to Information and Travel', which was a clear 
victory.

The Bill which gave equal rights to homosexuals was 
passed with very small protest. Even the election of 
Mary Robinson, and the massive growth of the Labour 
Party vote, show that people are becoming more liberal 
in their attitudes.

Molesting kids

We must support the weakening of the power of the 
Catholic hierarchy, who have put the dictates of the 
Church and their own self preservation, ahead of any 
rights of people. We have seen recently just how far 
they are prepared to go.

When they find out about one of their priests molesting 
a kid they cover it up.   Instead of immediately sacking 
the priest and handing him in to the authorities, they 
move him to another parish, where he is not known and 
can start molesting again. The good name of the church 
has been spared at the cost of hundreds of abused 
children.

Priests don't have children

Even if the church did not allow paedophilia, it is 
still unacceptable for them to control our schools. At 
the end of the day the people who have a say in schools 
should be the people who have a direct interest in what 
goes on in them.

That is, the parents and the teachers. Schools should be 
run so that the parents are happy that their children 
are safe and getting a good education, and that the 
teachers are happy that they are being given the 
resources and wages to do a good job.

The Catholic hierarchy is not in this equation. Priests 
and nuns are not allowed to have sex, never mind 
children. They have no direct interest in the welfare of 
children, and they should have no automatic control over 
our schools. 

Of course, there is nothing wrong with individual 
priests and nuns being hired by a school as teachers, 
and having an equal participation with the other 
teachers. What is wrong is having Bishops with automatic 
control over the schools' welfare, with no comeback for 
the parents or teachers.

Separate Church and State

Anarchists believe that no church, no religious group, 
can have the right to control the ethos and principals 
of a school, hospital or country. We believe that it is 
worth fighting for a clear division between the Church 
and the State. 

As far as schools are concerned, we can only be sure of 
the safety and education of our children if we have a 
say in how the schools are run. A good start to this 
would be replacing the existing school boards with 
properly elected representatives of the parents and 
teachers. 

Andrew Blackmore 

THE CATHOLIC Church's new-found "willingness" to deal 
with child abusers in its ranks is very newly-found.  
Last summer the launch edition of The Big Issues ran a 
hard hitting article by Eamonn McCann about the failure 
of the local priests to speak out against a paedophile 
ring in Derry.

The Big Issues relies on financial support from the Bank 
of Ireland.  This fact that prompted a senior church 
figure to contact the bank threatening to withdraw 
diocesan funds amounting to many millions of pounds from 
the bank.  Luckily for the homeless and long-term 
unemployed who rely on The Big Issues the bank refused 
to be intimidated by the threat of a belt from a 
crozier.


