Archbishop Eamon Martin has called the Vatican Synod on the Family to pay heed to the ‘shattering’ effect of clerical sexual abuse on families – but to reject the idea that church teaching on the family could vary at the level of national conferences of bishops.

“We know only too well the horrific impact of sins and crimes of abuse in the Church family: the betrayal of trust, the violation of dignity, the shame – both public and private, the anger and alienation, the wound that never seems to heal,” he said.

“We are very much aware that an awful lot of families go through immense pain, immense suffering, immense hurt and trauma and if we are able to hold that terrible sense of betrayal, shame, lost childhoods and lost lives that abuse domestic violence represents, then it may make our approach to families more pastoral, more compassionate and more understanding.”

The Primate of All-Ireland also said he was opposed to granting individual bishops’ conferences permission to interpret Church teaching on contentious issues such as Communion for divorced and remarried Catholics.

Click here for the full report in the Irish Catholic.