Some Catholic Religious Orders Still Failing to Protect Children

By Caroline O’Doherty
Irish Examiner
February 10, 2015

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/some-catholic-religious-orders-still-failing-to-protect-children-311846.html

Some Catholic religious orders are still failing to adequately protect children against sex abuse 20 years after the scale of the problem became evident.

A review by the National Board for the Safeguarding of Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC) has revealed glaring gaps in its safeguards, including poor written policies around child protection; unclear procedures for dealing with complaints; a lack of commitment to education and training; incomplete records about past cases and current monitoring and supervision arrangements; and even in reporting allegations.

In one case, a priest who admitted accessing child porn was still in ministry and was an acting prior with “ambitions to continue or undertake a leadership position within the order”, according to the review.

The review also looked at historical cases and found numerous examples of “missed opportunities” to save children from abuse because earlier complaints had been effectively ignored.

The NBSCCC found that, in seven of the nine large orders and congregations it reviewed, changes in attitudes have only come about in the last few years despite the orders being signed up to safeguarding codes since 2008, and despite the horror of clerical abuse becoming widely known following the Brendan Smyth case in 1994.

“I’m disappointed that, for the majority of orders, the whole area of safeguarding is only being bedded down in the last couple of years,” said Teresa Develin, the chief executive of the NBSCCC.

“Of the nine, only two orders have demonstrated good compliance with the [safeguarding] standards, and have demonstrated their commitment to putting in place good safeguards for children as well as prompt responses to allegations of abuse. For the other seven, there is considerable work to be done.”

The reviews dealt with orders where allegations of abuse were made against dozens of priests, brothers, and friars over a 40-year period — a small number of whom are still in ministry.

The Franciscan Friars were found to have dealt inadequately with two prolific abusers, one of whom was the subject of repeated complaints going back to 1973 but was only taken out of ministry in 1998, risk-assessed in 2006, and dismissed from the order only in 2007.

The NBSCCC said there were “significant missed opportunities in terms of protecting other children from his abusive behaviour”.

Another friar was only taken out of ministry in 1996, five years after there was evidence of his behaviour, which went on for 22 years.

A Franciscan Brother, meanwhile, faced allegations stretching from 1967 to 1981 when he was finally removed from teaching but complaints against him in the mid-70s were ignored.

An alleged serial abuser in the Passionists was formally reported in 2000 and taken out of ministry but no moves to expel him from the congregation were taken until 2011 and they are still ongoing.

The Augustinians, Marists, and Servites were also criticised for lax approaches to aspects of their safeguarding responsibilities. The full reports are available on www.safeguarding.ie.