MANY Clerical Abusers ’isolated or Unfulfilled’

By Claire O'Sullivan
Irish Examiner
May 2, 2014

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/watchdog-many-clerical-abusers-rsquoisolated-or-unfulfilledrsquo-267224.html

Many priests who admit to or who are found guilty of child sex abuse also have addictions, feel isolated or unfulfilled, while others are narcissistic or worryingly needy, according to the Church’s child protection watchdog.

In its annual report, the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCCI) says it would be “wrong” to conclude these behaviours led someone to abuse a child but warns their “presence cannot be ignored and must be considered as part of the treatment and management plan”.

Teresa Devlin has taken over at the helm of the NBSCCI from Ian Elliott and her role on the board for the past five years and as CEO for the past six years had made her believe the board “needs to influence [priest] formation programmes”.

She says one of the outstanding deficits in the Church is the need to “understand why people have committed acts of abuse so it doesn’t happen again”. Such research should then influence priestly training.

Another area where the Church needs to improve is in responding to victims, “the Church must learn better and more compassionate ways of responding to victims” as response to victims are “inconsistent”, according to the report.

The board says that while there are “good caring” responses from some religious orders and dioceses there are others where “the response had compounded the impact of the earlier abuse”.

It also said that clearer standards need to be put in place around the “the support and supervision of priests and religious out of ministry” because of allegations of abuse.

Greater clarity is also needed, she said, around canonical processes carried out by the Church’s internal justice mechanism and around support plans so risk of re-offending is reduced.

The report says that much has been achieved by the Church since it first set up the board. It notes that “a culture of safeguarding” is now in place and says there is good co-operation between the Church and civil authorities but there is greater need for assessment of abusing priests and management of risk.

Up to 164 complaints of abuse were made to the National Board for Safeguarding Children between April 2013 and March 2014. Up to 64 of these complaints were against diocesan priests with the remainder against members of religious congregations.

Since the last annual report, the National Office has been notified of allegations which relate to abuse over the years from 1948–2013.

Two of these notifications relate to alleged abuse taking place in 2012 and 2013, but it is not clear if these allegations relate to the abuse of children.

The board says these contemporary allegations show “a great need for continued vigilance, ensuring good preventative measures are in place and prompt reactive action”.

A fifth tranche of reviews of church safeguarding practice is due to be published in the coming weeks. All 26 dioceses have now been reviewed and four are to be published soon.