Archbishop Martin: A dishonest manipulator

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin is a dishonest, slyly manipulative defender of the obnoxious and evil organisation of which he is an enthusiastic member – the Catholic Church.

Martin and his church, with the full cooperation of the State, have been planning their strategy since last January to minimise the impact of this report and they have been largely successful in their aim.

Archbishop Martin is no different from his predecessors in that his principal concern is for the good of the Catholic Church rather than justice for the abused children.

Apologies slip easily off his well trained tongue but when hard questions are put to him he simply comments on the question or talks about something else. He launched his defence of the Catholic Church with these words:

As Archbishop of Dublin and as Diarmuid Martin a person I offer to each and every survivor my apology, my sorrow blah blah blah…

This was the only occasion when the Archbishop spoke of himself as a person rather than as a defender of the evil organisation that he represents.

For example when he was asked whether those responsible for the cover up should resign he couldn’t find it within himself to speak as an ordinary decent human. Instead he weakly mouthed that it was up to the bishops themselves.

A genuinely sympathetic human would instinctively know, and say, that those responsible for the horrific abuse of children should resign forthwith.

When asked on Prime Time how those who knew failed to act for so long he said:

Those who took those decisions knew what were crimes in Canon law and civil law and knew what was immoral and for some reason or other misread reality.

For some reason or other misread reality? Are these the words of a normal human being who fully understands the import of what has occurred – I don’t think so?

Abuse surviver Marie Collins, who rightly claims that the leadership of the Catholic Church is still the same, that nothing has changed, exposed Archbishop Martin’s dishonesty on Six One News (1st report 7th item).

The archbishop was asked if this could happen again and replied:

New norms are in place but they require that people really commit themselves. We have the possibility of the National Office and the HSE verifying any decisions I make. I’m pleased to have that double verification in place when I’m implementing the policies.

Marie Collins shot that down immediately:

The Vatican has not given recognition to the norms now in place which means they are not enforceable. This means there’s no sanction that can be taken against a bishop who decides not to follow the current norms.

Martin continued:

Anything I do can be examined by the national board and HSE and they can make matters public if I’m not carrying things out.

Again, Marie Collins exposed the lie.

The national board is not allowed to name a bishop or his diocese that are non compliant with the rules.

Archbishop Martin did not refute this claim but, characteristically, went on to talk about another matter.

This exchange tells us that the Catholic Church is still the same, still in denial, still refusing to put proper safeguards in place to protect children, still putting the interests of the church above everything.

It also tells us the State has learned nothing, that it has no problem in continuing to place the safety of children in the hands of a warped institution peopled by warped minds