Martin Conway (Fine Gael)

Like other speakers, I am ashamed of what is emerging through the reports on abuse within the Catholic Church. As a practising Catholic, I find it distressful and difficult to come to terms with it. Something positive needs to be done by the Catholic Church. In my humble opinion, I suggest there be a day of penance or reflection when practising Catholics who do the right thing, live by the gospel and have no issues about their integrity could attend church and pray for the many victims whose lives have been destroyed as a result of child sexual abuse. I would like it very much if the archbishops and various other leaders in the Catholic Church picked a day on which they would open churches to people who wanted to go and express their disgust and abhorrence at what has taken place. Something like this would be appropriate for ordinary decent, genuine Catholics to express how they feel about what has happened.