Justice is also a virtue

David Quinn has a decent piece in the Irish Independent about Bishop Eamonn Casey, the former Bishop of Galway. The Director of Public Prosecutions has decided not to press charges arising from allegations made against Dr. Casey. The woman who made these allegations has not been named but she has made similar baseless allegations against other people in the past. Quinn's point is that these allegations should not have been made public unless there was some reason to believe they were well founded.

"Put yourself in his shoes. Supposing someone from your past came forward and told police that many years ago you had abused her.

Suppose she was known to have made other, similar allegations against other individuals in the past. Suppose the claim against you was utterly without foundation and that the police investigation was, therefore, a simple formality. Would you want this groundless allegation to be made known to the whole world, to all your friends and colleagues, to your neighbours and to your workmates?

Would you take much comfort in the fact that eventually the authorities decided not to press charges against you? Not likely. Not unless you were mad, as you would be painfully, acutely and hideously aware that forever more everyone would know that you were the person against whom this most dreadful of accusations was made."

Quinn points out that clergy are extremely vulnerable to false allegations of abuse and that the practice of forcing a priest to step down from his duties immediately even on the strength of an obviously false and vindictive allegation broadcasts the fact that such an allegation has been made.

"However, the result of stepping down from the pulpit and the result of telling the parishioners is that the whole world found out. You found out. I found out. We all found out. Had we a right to this knowledge? The answer is no. We had no right to know anything about the allegation against Eamonn Casey unless and until enough evidence had been found to press charges. And there was never going to be enough evidence because the allegation wasn't true.

Furthermore, and this puts priests in an even more invidious position, with only the rarest exceptions it is only when child abuse claims are made against priests that the public seems to find out. When is the last time you were aware of an allegation against a teacher or a social worker that become common public knowledge? I cannot recall a single example."

Perhaps the most extraordinary and appalling aspect of this affair is that now, when any reasonable person can see that Bishop Casey has been subjected to a terrible ordeal at the hands of a vindictive woman and despite the fact that there is not the shred of a prima facie case against him, the Church authorities in Ireland will begin their own investigation into these allegations. In the meantime this 78 year old Bishop who has spent 14 years in exile is not permitted to say Mass in public.

Better to punish the innocent than let the guilty go free?