"Ireland Braces"... Again

Two months after Irish Catholicism was rocked by the Ryan Report on abuse in church-run residential schools, the next blow could arrive as early as later today as the three-year state inquiry looking into the archdiocese of Dublin's handling of allegations delivers its findings to the government, which'll publish the final report:

Up to 450 victims have also been identified by the commission which will present the report to the Irish justice minister Dermot Ahern.

The Irish government now has to decide whether it should publicly name the clergy identified in the report.

"The report will shock and horrify Ireland," according to Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, who played a key role in setting up the investigation and is seen by the Vatican as someone determined to reform the image of the Catholic church in Ireland.

It will name 15 priests, 11 of whom have been convicted through the Irish courts and four who are already well known.

The report was established in March 2006 and examined child sex abuse allegations against 46 priests and how each case was handled by 19 Dublin bishops between 1975 and 2004.

Part of the report will heavily criticise a so-called power culture among the Dublin bishops who have been accused of not taking the allegations seriously.

Ahern is understood to be preparing to hand over the report to the Republic's attorney general for legal advice....

Of the 19 bishops investigated in the report, seven are deceased.

In the run-up to the second report's release, the Dublin church has posted liturgical resources for use in its parishes, among which is a "Prayer of Support" written by a victim-survivor:

Lord, we are so sorry for what some of us did
to your children: treated them so cruelly,
especially in their hour of need.
We have left them with a lifelong suffering.
This was not your plan for them or us.
Please help us to help them.
Guide us, Lord, Amen.

Given the thousands of residential school victims who've overwhelmed advocacy and aid groups by coming forward since May's report, two major survivor lobbies have sought a delay of the Dublin inquest's publication.

PHOTO: AP

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