An overwhelming majority of the public polled by MRBI believe that Cardinal Brady should resign and also that the Church has not responded adequately to the publication of the Murphy report into abuse in the Dublin archdiocese. The poll shows a number of things. The first is the disastrous and understandable effect of the scandals on the reputation of the Church and its leaders. The second is the almost complete failure by the Church to communicate to the public the reality that it has greatly improved its child protection standards.
The third, related to this, is the failure of the media itself to inform the public that the Church's child protection system is now very good and getting better.
The reaction to Cardinal Brady could be predicted, but the overwhelming belief that the Church has not responded properly to the Murphy Report is slightly surprising because the response of Archbishop Diarmuid Martin to the publication of that report was extremely robust and two bishops resigned with two more resignations pending. On the other hand it is likely his vague talk of 'strong forces' hindering the move towards better child safety standards didn't help matters.
Lack of communication skills
Perhaps the lack of an all-Ireland communications strategy by the bishops lies at the heart of the failure to communicate and this clearly needs examination, especially in the wake of the retirement of Bishop Joseph Duffy, who had oversight for the communications portfolio.
The poll also makes clear how hostile to the Church Dublin in particular has become. It is undoubtedly the most secular city in Ireland. This should be seen as a challenge and not as a lost cause.
The proper response by the Church to this poll is to continue improving its child protection system and to properly communicate to the public what it is doing in this area. And yet, the anger over child abuse also covers deeper reasons for anger and these are not being heard at all.
Let's hope that the bishops who met in Maynooth earlier this week have some kind of plan to begin this much talked about renewal come the autumn or we will be more of a minority Church and sooner than anyone could have predicted.
I see a growing tendency in Irish Catholic articles and blogs (especially of David Quinn) to try to reduce the fact of negative attitude to the church over child abuse scandal to poor communications. It's emphasized time and again that the church has put child protection procedures in place. That is true. But that is not the issue here. People are angry and distrustful of the church not because they believe child abuse is still going on but primarily because of the cover up and the brass-neck attitude of most bishops and the pope himself. The arrogance and hypocrisy of the church leaders is mind-boggling. The inability often to show even a minimum of geniune Christian repentance and understanding of the enormity of what was committed. The avoidance of accountibility, etc. That is what has people's blood boiling and rightly so. So this constant repetition about poor communication by the church is a total red herring. No amount of PR is going to replace genuine action and proper reaction by the pope and bishops.