BishopAccountability.org
	Secret Sins of the Fathers ; Church Turned a Blind Eye to Perverts in Homes: Thousands Suffered Atbeasts' Hands for 70 Years By Mark McGivern American Chronicle May 21, 2009 http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/yb/130168344 Church turned a blind eye to perverts in homes Thousands suffered at beasts' hands for 70 years PRIESTS beat, raped and neglected children in Ireland's homes and institutions for decades, a damning report revealed yesterday. And the Catholic Church authorities were accused of caring more about preventing scandal than protecting vulnerable kids. But Ireland's Child Abuse Commission ruled yesterday that no one will face prosecution over the abuse over the last 70 years. Victims were barred from the hotel where the findings were made public and protested outside. Wounds John Kelly, coordinator of the Survivors of Child Abuse (SOCA) group, said: "I have been getting phone calls all day from former residents. They feel their wounds have been reopened for nothing. "They were promised justice by the taoiseach in 1999 and they feel cheated." Victim John Walsh added: "The little comfort we have is the knowledge it vindicated the victims who were raped and sexually abused." The commis-sion'harrowing report, which has taken nine years to complete, reveals how thousands of children lived in fear and misery at the mercy of vicious sexual predators, religious and lay workers. The report into the horrors of the orphanages and schools blasts generations of priests, nuns and Christian Brothers. It also highlighted the Church's failure to act - as well as that of Ireland's education authorities when alerted to incidents of abuse. Commission chair Judge Sean Ryan said in the report: "When confronted with evidence of sexual abuse, the response of the religious authorities was to transfer the offender to another location where, in many instances, he was free to abuse again. "Children lived with the daily terror of not knowing where the next beating was coming from." The commission were forced to drop their intention of naming the people against whom the allegations were made because of legal action by the Christian Brothers, the largest provider of residential care for boys. But the inquiry produced specific findings against 216 facilities. The Sisters of Mercy and Christian Brothers, who ran the largest number of children's institutions, were among the long list of orders investigated. The commission revealed sexual abuse was endemic in boys' schools while in girls' schools, children were subjected to predatory abuse by male employees, visitors and while on outside placements. Children were so badly neglected, survivors spoke of scavenging for food from waste bins and animal feed. There were underwear inspections and in one case, a boy was forced to lick excrement from a priest's shoe. And bullying in boys' schools often left smaller, weaker children without food. Soiled Accommodation was cold, spartan and bleak while children were often left in soiled, wet clothes after being forced to work for long hours outdoors on farms. Abuse was rarely reported to state authorities but on the rare occasion the department of education were told, they colluded in the culture of silence, never informing police. "At best, the abusers were moved but nothing was done about the harm done to the child. At worst, the child was blamed and seen as corrupted by the sexual activity, and was punished severely," the report stated. The leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady, said he was"profoundly sorry and deeply ashamed that children suffered in such awful ways". He went on: "This report makes it clear that great wrong and hurt were caused to some of the most vulnerable children in our society. "It documents a shameful catalogue of cruelty - neglect, physical, sexual and emotional abuse perpetrated against children." The inquiry was announced in 1999 by then taoiseach Bertie Ahern after revelations in television documentaries.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.