IRELAND
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By Mark Vincent Healy | TheJournal.ie
This day last year I arrived in Rome Fiumicino airport. I was invited to Vatican City as the first Irish male survivor of clerical child sexual abuse to meet with His Holiness, Pope Francis. I was accompanied by the first Irish female survivor. The gender balance was most appropriate. Four other survivors were included, two from the UK and two from Germany.
What seems little known or appreciated is that over 80% of Irish clerical child sexual abuse was same sex abuse perpetrated on male children, young boys by priests, ministers of God in the Catholic faith. I had been sexually abused from the age of 9 to 12 by two priests of the Holy Ghost Fathers, a.k.a. the Spiritans, whilst a student at St. Mary’s College Rathmines. St. Mary’s College has much to be proud of and it is such a pity that so few could tarnish the good name of others.
I took my papal audience with the greatest sense of duty and respect
I prepared as well as I could for this historic and initial meeting. I felt I owed that much to the many others who might have wanted such an opportunity. I was especially mindful of the traumatised 15,000 survivors of child abuse by 18 religious congregations following the publication of the Ryan Report of 2009.
In audits to date covering six tranches by National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC), there have been 2,744 abuse allegations raised against 1,069 priests for which only 64 of them were held to account. Justice that demands acknowledgement and restitution of that wrong has eluded too many survivors and their families.
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