Scottish Catholic Observer

Archbishop Philip Tartaglia of Glasgow has met with a survivor of abuse within the Church.

Dave Sharp was granted the one-to-one meeting after the president of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland apologised to victims on behalf of the Church.

The 56-year-old, who was assaulted as a child at a Catholic brothers’ school in Falkland, Fife, said the discussion was very positive and he raised his concerns with the archbishop (above) in a ‘very open and frank’ way.

“I got the feeling I was the first victim the archbishop had spoken to in depth,” Mr Sharp said after the meeting took place. “I think it was eye-opening for him.

“The archbishop was very honest with me. He repeated his apology about what happened to me and the other children and I believed him. I feel more at peace now than for a long time but I still need answers—like every other victim.”

Archbishop Tartaglia delivered a ‘profound apology’ to abuse victims after the publication of the McLellan report into Church handling of sexual abuse allegations. He made the apology at St Andrew’s Cathedral in Glasgow in front of his brother bishops and on their behalf.

“As the president of the Bishops’ Conference, and on behalf of all the Bishops of Scotland, I want to offer a profound apology to all those who have been harmed and who have suffered in any way as a result of actions by anyone within the Catholic Church,” the archbishop said.

“Child abuse is a horrific crime. That this abuse should have been carried out within the Church, and by priests and religious, takes that abuse to another level. Such actions are inexcusable and intolerable. The harm the perpetrators of abuse have caused is first and foremost to their victims, but it extends far beyond them, to their families and friends, as well as to the Church and wider society.”

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