Literature on Professional Social Work and Controversies Surrounding Roman Catholicism in the Republic of Ireland: Adapting the Dynamic Model

Abstract

Critical commentary on the literature addresses the relationship between Roman Catholicism and professional social work in the Republic of Ireland. The context is a series of highly publicized clerical-abuse scandals and controversies associated with institutional segregation. Focused commentary operates in two phases across six subthemes. Thereafter application of a dynamic model of social work progresses insights from the former review toward learning for practitioners moving forward. It is concluded that sensitivity to the implications of tragedies and controversies for survivors and their families remains an ethical imperative in Irish social work practice. Within this, sensitivity that goes beyond rhetoric and sentiment to achieve a meaningfully sensitive approach to practice is most needed and will be strongest when operationalized within set parameters.