Irish Echo
August 15, 2011
http://www.irishecho.com.au/2011/08/14/abuse-victim-urges-other-to-%E2%80%98let-out-the-pain%E2%80%99/11520
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| 'Andrew' was sexually abused by an Irish priest ordained in Brisbane. The abuse occured in the Cloyne Diocese. |
An Australian man who was sexually abused by an Irish priest in Cloyne in the 1970s has urged other abuse victims “not to be afraid, as you are the innocent ones”.
Last month, the Cloyne Report revealed that the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane paid $20,000 to ‘Andrew’. He was sexually abused by an Irish priest in Cloyne. The priest was ordained in Brisbane but had retired in Ireland.
The priest, given the pseudonym Fr Rion, spent much of his life in the Brisbane Archdiocese after being ordained there in 1933, but retired in the Diocese of Cloyne in 1971 owing to ill-health. It was in the priest’s own home that the abuse of Andrew took place. Fr Rion died in 1976.
This newspaper subsequently learned the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane re-established contact with three child sexual abuse victims of Fr Rion’s and made payments of $20,000 to them, after it learned he had abused Andrew.
The most recent payment was made in January of this year.
Andrew has now urged other clerical child sex abuse victims to come forward.
He told the Irish Echo that victims should “not to be afraid, as you are the innocent ones”.
“It is a hard process to go through but it is well worth coming forward as internally, you feel relieved to let out the pain which you have endured throughout the years,” Andrew said.
Andrew added that the abuse he suffered has damaged him internally.
Replying by email, he said he suffers from trust issues, deteriorating self-esteem and “a lack of caring of own self”.
He has struggled with migraines, developed obsessive-compulsive disorder, and used alcohol as a coping mechanism.
He also wrote that he has, in the past, had “thoughts of self-harm which, thankfully, I didn’t go through as I didn’t want to put my family through that”.
Andrew’s wife told the Irish Echo that it was the lack of openness by the Archdiocese of Brisbane that was “the hardest thing for [Andrew]”.
He wants the archdiocese to take more responsibility.
“[They should] acknowledge their role in not disclosing that there had been previous victims (which came out in The Cloyne Report), advise how many others and when, and acknowledge how this information could have benefited the recovery process instead of setting everything back to day one,” he wrote.
Andrew added that he wants a better process where the victim’s need comes first and the church’s reputation second.
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