Abuse Audits Reveal Worrying Shortcomings

By Michael Kelly
Irish Catholic
September 6, 2012

http://www.irishcatholic.ie/content/abuse-audits-reveal-worrying-shortcomings

The latest audits into the Irish Church's handling of abuse allegations reveal that while substantial progress continues to be made, there are still worrying areas of non-compliance with agreed procedures.

The reviews – carried out by the independent watchdog the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC) – revealed that one religious congregation was not reporting such allegations to the civil authorities as recently as July 2011. The reports also show that religious congregations were not following the Vatican's procedure on reporting all allegations to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) as recently as 12 months ago.

Chief Executive of the NBSCCC, Ian Elliott said that the "reviews indicate that full compliance has not yet been achieved by all of those reviewed, although many examples of excellent practice were found".

According to Mr Elliott, good practice and sound development, found across the different Church authorities, has been welcomed by the board, which also noted the need to learn from examples of poor practice.

Four dioceses and three religious congregations published the results of their independent audits September 5. Mr Elliott said "all allegations that were examined with the review process have been reported to the appropriate statutory authorities". However, he said that "sadly, some of these had been very much delayed".

The report into the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC) notes that "it is difficult to express adequately the failure of this society to effectively protect vulnerable children".

"Their actions indicate a disregard for the suffering of victims and a misunderstanding of the nature of the problem within the society," the report notes.

Progress

In August 2011, the NBSCCC began assessing how the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart were complying with Church safeguarding procedures they had signed up to in February 2009. However, the board suspended its review within a day after uncovering "very worrying" evidence that allegations had not been passed on to gardaí. A new provincial had just taken over and he claimed that he had been unaware of the allegations and immediately began passing information to the civil authorities.

The report did note that significant progress has been made since that initial review.

Responding to the report, MSC Provincial Fr Joseph McGee said he wanted to "unreservedly apologise to all who were abused by members of our society. We express our deep and sincere sorrow to all those who did not receive a proper response from us after they had shown the courage to report abuse or to express concerns about the possibility of abuse occurring.

"It is abundantly clear that we failed in our attempts to reach out to many people who reported allegations to us," he said.

The NBSCCC audit also found that allegations had routinely not been forwarded to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome as had been required by 2001.

Allegations were made against 17 members of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. One priest has been convicted and served a prison sentence.

Distressing

The audit of the Spiritans, also known as the Holy Ghost Fathers, found that from 1994 onwards a new provincial began removing men from ministry who were thought to have caused harm to children. It found that "previous provincials maintained men in ministry after being informed of abuse". The audit noted "it is distressing to report that some of these men went on to abuse again".

This audit also points out that the Spiritans often received "misleading advice from psychologists and psychiatrists around the likelihood of reoffending".

As with the MSC, the audit notes that "it is concerning to note that it has only been in the last year that cases have been referred to the CDF for canonical processes to proceed".

The NBSCCC report says that "in discussion with survivors of abuse, there is a real sense of a lack of accountability for abuse, particularly for those priests who have not been prosecuted".

"Survivors feel that an absence of any internal disciplinary action, further adds to their pain and hurt. They have advised that by allowing the perpetrator to remain a priest, without any meaningful sanction, this could be seen as the Spiritans making a public statement that they support the priest," the audit says.

Regarding legal proceedings, the NBSCCC audit of the Spiritan Congregation, warns that while it "recognises that lawyers are necessary in reaching financial settlements, it is equally important for a pastoral response to be made".

Forty-seven members of the Spiritans have been subject to abuse allegations since 1975. Three have been convicted.

The report on the Dominican Friars praises the way the current leadership has dealt with its responsibilities in relation to child protection and the way it has shown determination to improve practices.

It says the order has shown a real sense of accepting past failures and has offered remorse.

However, the report was also critical of the Dominicans for not implementing Canon Law procedures: "It is the view of the NBSCCC that canonical disciplinary procedures should be invoked in the case of at least two of the men who are still able-bodied but who are not friars of good standing.

"NBSCCC recognise that keeping and managing these men within the order reduces risk to children. However, they do not and should not enjoy the same status as other friars and this should be acknowledged by ensuring that the canonical process is followed," the report notes

Apology

Meanwhile, the Bishop of Clonfert has apologised for moving two priests from one parish to another in the 1990s after they abused children.

Dr John Kirby said he had a lack of understanding about the "sinister and recidivist" nature of the child abuser and the lifelong damage that the destructive behaviour has on victims.

"Most of all - whilst I did notify the civil authorities at the time of these complaints - I profoundly regret and apologise for moving the priests concerned to different parishes, thereby placing others at serious risk," he said following the publication of the audit in to his diocese.

Dr Kirby said the decision to transfer the abusive priests in the early to mid-1990s was a grave mistake.

"I operate very differently now and will continue to do so in the future," he added. "Finally, I wish to reiterate my regret for the terrible damage caused by these two priests."

Dr Kirby was criticised because when the audit was carried out in November 2011 his diocese had no written procedures in relation to the management of allegations. This was described as a "significant shortcoming". However, such a document was published in January 2012.

Allegations have been made against three priests in the diocese since 1975, one has been convicted.

A separate audit of the Diocese of Cork and Ross uncovered concerns about priests retiring to Cork from Britain, including three with convictions for child abuse. It warned that information from their dioceses in Britain was "not as forthcoming as it should have been," leading to a lack of awareness of potential risk.

However, the report also found that Cork and Ross now boasts one of Ireland's best child protection regimes - and was found to have fully or partially complied with all 48 safety criteria.

The diocese has a total of 26 priests against whom child abuse allegations were made since 1975. Four priests have been convicted of offences against children.

Disconnection

In Limerick diocese, the audits found that 44 out of 48 agreed criteria had been fully met, with the remaining four partially met. In a now familiar pattern, the audit revealed that cases prior to the mid-1990s were routinely mishandled and allegations were not reported to the civil authorities.

Allegations were received against 18 priests of the diocese, none were convicted.

In Kildare and Leighlin diocese, the audit issued 12 recommendations to make safeguarding procedures "more robust". Msgr Brendan Byrne, diocesan administrator, said work was underway on fulfilling the recommendations as soon as possible including the appointment of a lay person as a designated person on the child safeguarding team.

The report found there was a "sense of disconnection" in the safeguarding network which could be due to the diocese having had "relatively few cases to deal with".

Msgr Byrne said he wished to "reaffirm the commitment of our diocese to be fully accountable to the highest safeguarding standards". Ten priests were subject to abuse allegations, of these one was convicted.

Responding to the reviews, John Morgan, Chairman of the NBSCCC said "a key emerging lesson from these reviews is the importance of objective, independent, standards-based monitoring of practice".

"It is not enough simply to have policies in place. You must also have ways to confirm full compliance with those policies.

"This is the benefit that the review process brings to practice in the Church," Mr Morgan said.

The NBSCCC has now begun the next tranche of audits which is expected to focus on religious congregations and missionary societies. So far ten of the country's 26 dioceses have been reviewed while a further 159 religious orders, congregations and missionary societies will be audited by Mr Elliott's office. He has pledged to complete this within the next two years.

The audit process was extended to all Church institutions after a 2008 review of the Diocese of Cloyne found that procedures there were "inadequate and in some respects dangerous". Former Bishop of Cloyne, Dr John Magee initially stepped aside and resigned in March 2010. A 2011 judicial report was highly critical of his mishandling of abuse allegations.