Irish Catholic Church in Child Abuse Scandal, Vox, May 30, 2009

Irish Catholic Church in Child Abuse Scandal

Vox
May 30, 2009

http://www.vox.gi/Local/Irish_Catholic_Church_Child_Abuse_Scandal-30052009.html

Report points to thousands who suffered at hands of priests and nuns

Though many members of the local Roman catholic congregation may be offended that VOX has 'resolved to publish this report, we believe that brushing bad behaviour under the carpet - whether that of Church, Government or other bodies - is a disservice to our society. With this in mind - and an acceptance that the suppurating boil of abuse should be lanced - VOX invites victims of abuse, by Church or by Social Services to tell their experience. Where requested, we will respect the victim's anonymity. :: The Editor.

Shocking disclosures of the abuse by Irish Roman Catholic priests and nuns of children who had been placed in their care were disclosed last week with the publication of the conclusions of the nine-year Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse. Ordered by the Government and headed by Mr Justice Sean Ryan, the reprt indicated that - although the situation has today radically changed - over a forty-year period some 30,000 children, whose only crimes were to have been poor or parentless, were systematically abused by churchmen.

And, though the Ryan report is confined to events in Ireland and identifies some 800 alleged abusers - only a handful of whom have been prosecuted - anecdotal evidence suggests that the abuse was widespread within the church elsewhere...including Gibraltar. Among the abusers identified by the report are nuns, priests and monks, principally members of the Christian Brothers order.

Pope Benedict XVI has been briefed on the report.

Abuse in Schools

The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse was established by the Irish Government in May 2000 after a television series revealed cases of abuse in Catholic children's institutions across the country, and more than 30,000 children considered to be thieves, truants or from dysfunctional families - a category including those with unmarried mothers - were sent to schools where the abuse took place.

Abuses also took place at 216 other church-run institutions for children - orphanages, hostels, non-residential schools and schools for the disabled - according to the report, which ran to 2,500 pages and cost €10 million. Statements were taken from 2,500 people who claimed to have suffered abuse, a few of the cases dating from World War I.

Since the lid was first lifted off the can of worms in 2002, when (in a compensation deal struck with the Government) 18 religious congregations agreed to pay £127 million - most of it in the form of buildings and land - in return for indemnity against further claims against them, the Irish Government panel has paid 12,000 abuse survivors an average of €65,000 each. About 2,000 claims are pending, The Times reports.

In terms of the 2002 compensation deal, the Government agreed to meet the remaining costs, which have since spiralled to about £1.1 billion, provoking public outrage, not only about the extent of the abuses revealed by the Ryan report but also the extent of the burden which compensation is placing on the Irish taxpayer. This week the cauldron of resentment boiled over, leading to a clash between the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal Brady, with the religious orders involved in child abuse, as well as a call to them by the Irish premier, or Taoiseach, Brian Cowen on Tuesday night to provide a substantial additional contribution for the victims.

Compensation Terms

Pressure has been building on the Catholic hierarchy to do something about the grossly disproportionate burden that the Irish taxpayer has to shoulder in the controversial compensation or "redress" scheme for thousands of victims, The Times reports. But the 18 religious orders have said they will not renegotiate the deal after the Cardinal asked them to revisit the terms of the compensation.

Public anger over the deal has increased. Thousands of people have queued to sign a "solidarity" book at Mansion House, Dublin, with some signatories angrily declaring that the guilty priests, nuns and monks who raped and tortured children in their care for decades should be hunted down "like Nazis".

Sensing the rapidly growing public mood of anger, senior members of the clergy have been urging the religious orders to do more. But those appeals appeared to have fallen on deaf ears, when on Tuesday the congregations issued a statement saying that while they "accepted the gravity" of the Ryan report they would not do what Cardinal Brady and others have urged.

A statement from the orders said: "Rather than reopening the terms of the agreement reached with Government in 2002, we reiterate our commitment to working with those who suffered enormously while in our care. We must find the best and most appropriate ways of directly assisting them."

The Conference of the Religious in Ireland (Cori), which represents 138 religious congregations and which negotiated the 2002 redress scheme, issued a separate statement saying it supported the 18 congregations in their efforts to find "the best and most appropriate ways forward".

"All of us accept with humility that massive mistakes were made and grave injustices were inflicted on very vulnerable children. No excuse can be offered for what has happened," the Cori statement said.

Earlier Cardinal Brady said of the 2002 deal: "It should be revisited and take into consideration the potential of people to pay and above all the needs of the victims - we have to keep coming back to that."

Ireland is still reeling from the horrific details contained in the Ryan report, which includes testimony from victims who were forced to lick excrement from the boots of Christian Brothers.

Clearly masking his disappointment at the refusal of the religious orders to heed his call, Cardinal Brady told RTÉ, the state broadcaster: "Obviously more speaking will have to be done to clarify the reasons behind the agreement and what steps can be taken to revisit that."

Public Anger

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin went much farther when he issued a thinly veiled warning to the religious orders that they did not seem to appreciate the depth of public anger. "The religious congregations should look now at what has emerged and ask themselves is that the picture that we understood nine years ago?" he said.

"If the thing is much worse than they admitted to at that stage, then they have to look at the consequences. Pointing, telling them what to do, won't be the answer. They have to, themselves, own up and do some heart searching about the horrors that were there."

And, earlier this week, after a two-hour Cabinet meeting to discuss the recommendations in the Ryan report, the Irish premier said that it had found a much more systematic volume of abuse in institutions than was previously known or accepted by the orders.

"The Government has, therefore, decided to call on the relevant congregations to provide a substantial additional contribution in view of the moral responsibility they continue to hold in these matters," Cowen said. And he pointed out that the Christian Brothers had indicated their willingness to commit additional resources in reparation for abuses of the past and to consult the Government and other stakeholders to see how that can be achieved.

"I believe the other individual congregations involved should now also articulate their willingness to make a further substantial voluntary contribution." he said.

The Taoiseach added that the Government intended to meet the representatives of the congregations to discuss a number of issues, including the making of further contributions, and the mechanism by which this will be done. This would include the establishment of a trust which would be available to support education and welfare projects.

Failure of Society

Mr Cowen also said that the discussions would also centre on how the public will be able to assess the significant of these contributions by reference to the resources available to the congregations.

"It is deeply shameful for all Irish people that this has happened in our country and that for so long it was not confronted. The failure of society in the treatment of children is laid bare in this report and it is horrendous. These children were placed in institutions by the State and the State had a duty of care to them. These victims were betrayed by the State and we must ensure that this can never, ever, happen again.

"Those orders whose members committed the abuse must also face their moral responsibilities," said Cowen. Those accountable for such crimes, no matter how long ago, "must face the full rigours of the law".

Accepted all the recommendations of the Ryan report, Cowen added: "In particular the Government accepts the recommendation that we admit that abuse of children occurred because of failures of systems and policy of management and administration, and of senior personnel who were concerned with industrial and reformatory schools."