Dubliners speak about church abuse

They are 48, 64 or 77 years old. They were once innocent Irish children. They became the victims of violence and sexual abuse, committed by priests or members of Catholic religious orders, along with hundreds of other children over several decades. This abuse was ignored, hidden and denied by the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church, but also by the Irish State.

Today, after more than 15 years of investigation and the publication of two documents in 2009, the Ryan Report and the Murphy Report, the Irish Roman Catholic Church is finally facing its devils. “Scandalous…horrible…disgusting.” Dubliners are not short on words for expressing what they think of the magnitude of accusations and claims.

“My image that I had of the Roman Catholic Church changed 100 per cent. It i so disgusting. I gave up relying on the Catholic institution. They have so much wealth that they control everybody. They make the worst atrocities all in the name of religious dogma.” -Lucy, 64

“I am Catholic. I always had faith in the Church. But after all that happened, the image I had of the Roman Catholic Church changed. Everybody knew. Nobody did anything. I am very disappointed.”-Mickaël, 42

“I was not very religious and today they gave a further reason to not waste our time anymore with the religion.”-Stephy, 32

“I think that it is necessary to be careful when we speak about this story. What has happened is scandalous and horrible for all these victims, but they aren’t all the same. A lot of members of the church are not like that. Many of them do formidable things.”-Elisabeth, 55

“What has happened doesn’t surprise us. We are not religious, thus our image of the Roman Catholic Church did not change. But we don’t think that that will change the faith of the Irish Catholics. In a few years, we’ll not speak about it anymore and all the Catholics will take back quietly the road of the church.”-Bob and Patrice, 25 and 29