Home / Crime and Justice / Sisters Seek Church Accountability After Abuse
Sisters Seek Church Accountability After Abuse
8 Jan
Summary
- Abused sisters advocate for direct engagement between survivors and leaders.
- A facilitated meeting with church representatives was deeply healing for survivors.
- The Catholic Church states commitment to continuous learning and positive response.
Two sisters, Paula and Margaret Martin, who were abused by a former priest in County Donegal, are calling for greater engagement between abuse survivors and Catholic Church leaders throughout Ireland. They emphasized that a facilitated meeting with representatives from the Diocese of Raphoe in the past year provided significant healing and a sense of being truly heard.
The Martin sisters experienced abuse as children and had approached the Church multiple times over 25 years without adequate resolution. Following the abuser's conviction, the sisters initiated civil proceedings, which led to a meeting with senior church figures, including Monsignor Kevin Gillespie and Bishops Philip Boyce and Alan McGuckian. This dialogue, mediated in Londonderry, was described as a safe and honest space.
Following this meeting, the Diocese of Raphoe issued a public apology, acknowledging a profound failure in pastoral care. The sisters expressed that this engagement brought unexpected peace and helped alleviate long-held pain. A spokesperson for the Catholic Church affirmed a commitment to ongoing learning and responding positively to survivors, though no single mediation policy exists for all dioceses.
