Catholic Church sexual abuse cases in Ireland
From the late 1980s, allegations of sexual abuse of children associated with Catholic institutions and clerics in several countries started to be the subject of sporadic, isolated reports. In Ireland, beginning in the 1990s, a series of criminal cases and Irish government enquiries established that hundreds of priests had abused thousands of children over decades. Six reports by the former National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church established that six Irish priests had been convicted between 1975 and 2011.[1][2] This has contributed to the secularisation of Ireland and to the decline in influence of the Catholic Church. Ireland held referendums to legalise same-sex marriage in 2015 and abortion in 2018.[3][4]
Like the Catholic Church sex abuse cases in the United States and elsewhere, the abuse in Ireland included cases of high-profile, supposedly celibate Catholic clerics involved in illicit heterosexual relations as well as widespread physical abuse of children in the Catholic-run childcare network. In many cases, the abusing priests were moved to other parishes to avoid embarrassment or a scandal, assisted by senior clergy. By 2010 a number of in-depth judicial reports had been published, but with only a limited number of criminal convictions.
In March 2010, Pope Benedict XVI wrote a pastoral letter of apology for all of the abuse that had been carried out by Catholic clergy in Ireland.[5] On 31 May 2010, Benedict established a formal panel to investigate the sex abuse scandal, saying that it could serve as a healing mechanism for the country and its Catholics. Among the nine members of the apostolic visitation were Cardinal Seán Patrick O'Malley, the Archbishop of Boston (he investigated the Archdiocese of Dublin); Cardinal Timothy Michael Dolan, the Archbishop of New York (he investigated the issue of proper priestly formation and visited the seminaries); two nuns (who investigated women's religious institutes and the formation there), Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the Archbishop Emeritus of Westminster, England; Archbishop Terrence Thomas Prendergast of Ottawa, Canada; and Cardinal-Archbishop Thomas Christopher Collins of Toronto, Canada. In August 2018, a list was published revealing that over 1,300 Catholics in Ireland were accused of sexual abuse and 82 of them were convicted.[6][7]
Abuse in the state childcare system[edit]
In the 1990s, a series of television programs publicised allegations of systemic abuse in Ireland's Roman Catholic-run childcare system, primarily in the Reformatory and Industrial Schools. The abuse occurred primarily between the 1930s and 1970s. These documentaries included "Dear Daughter", "Washing Away the Stain" and "Witness: Sex in a Cold Climate and Sinners".[12][25] These programs interviewed adult victims of abuse who provided "testimony of their experiences, they documented Church and State collusion in the operation of these institutions, and they underscored the climate of secrecy and denial that permeated the church response when faced with controversial accusations." The topic was also covered by American broadcast media. Programs such as CBS's 60 Minutes and ABC's 20/20 produced segments on the subject for an Irish-American audience.[12]
In 1999, a documentary film series titled States of Fear detailed abuse suffered by Irish children between the 1930s and 1970s in the state childcare system, primarily in the Reformatory and Industrial Schools.
Response of the Irish government to the scandal[edit]
In response to the furore aroused by the media reports, the Irish government commissioned a study which took nine years to complete. On 20 May 2009, the commission released its 2600-page report, which drew on testimony from thousands of former inmates and officials from more than 250 church-run institutions. The commission found that Catholic priests and nuns had terrorised thousands of boys and girls for decades and that government inspectors had failed to stop the chronic beatings, rapes and humiliation. The report characterised rape and molestation as "endemic" in Irish Catholic church-run Industrial Schools and orphanages.
Response of the Church to the scandals[edit]
In February 2002, 18 religious institutes agreed to provide more than €128 million in compensation to the victims of child abuse.
In 2005 the Church published an Instruction Concerning the Criteria for the Discernment of Vocations with regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in view of their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders.
In 2006 the Church set up the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSC) to suggest ways to safeguard children and improve policy, and to monitor practices and observance of policy. In 2008 the Health Service Executive had required a child safety audit which the Bishops felt unable to co-operate with for legal reasons, and in 2009 they asked the NBSC to perform this role. In its report of 2010–March 2011 the NBSC complained that it had also been denied the same information, also for legal reasons, and that Church funding for its training programmes in child protection had ended in 2009. The 2010–11 report listed 272 new allegations of abuse, mainly "of a historical nature", up from 197 allegations in its 2009–10 report.[26]
Brendan Comiskey[edit]
In March 2002, a BBC documentary, titled Suing the Pope, highlighted the case of Seán Fortune, one of the most notorious clerical sex offenders. The film followed Colm O'Gorman as he investigated the story of how Fortune was allowed to abuse him and countless other teenage boys.[27] The Church's practice of parish transfers of abusive priests allowed Fortune to be transferred to other parishes without notifying them about any former abuse allegations.
On 1 April 2002, Brendan Comiskey, Bishop of Ferns, resigned over charges that he had failed to deal adequately with allegations that Fortune and others were sexually abusing children.[28]
Tony Walsh[edit]
In December 2010, Archdiocese of Dublin "singing priest" Tony Walsh was sentenced to 123 years in prison for 14 child abuse convictions involving sex-related offences dating from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s.[40][41] However, the sentences were to be served concurrently, netting to a maximum of 16 years.[41] By the time he pleaded guilty in December 2018 to indecently assaulting a teenage boy with a crucifix on a date in 1983, Walsh had already been in prison for 13 years.[40]
Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland[edit]
In May 2020, it was revealed that prior to the 2004 merger with the Scout Association of Ireland (SAI) which formed Scouting Ireland, the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland (CBSI) covered up sex abuse committed by people who served in the organization.[58] In a period spanning decades, both the CBSI and SAI shielded 275 known or suspected predators who abused children after becoming aware of the reported acts of abuse.[58] Scouting Ireland backed the findings of the report and issued an apology.[58]
Other cases[edit]
As well the reports, many other victims of clerical abuse came forward with their own stories; including actor Gabriel Byrne[59] and Derry Morgan.[60] In each case the victim was told to keep quiet, and the priest involved was usually admired by the victim's family; this made it difficult for victims to speak out, adding long-term psychological injury to the abuse itself.
In 2010 Fr. Patrick Hughes was convicted on four counts of indecent assault.[61] Detective Sergeant Joseph McLoughlin said that the Garda Síochána were "getting the run-around from church authorities".[61]
Investigations continue where Irish abusers were sent abroad by the church to other countries, where they abused other children.[62]
Pastoral letter from Pope Benedict XVI[edit]
After the pressure gathered from the Ryan and Murphy Reports and the resignation of bishops, Pope Benedict XVI summoned all of the Irish Bishops to the Vatican in January 2010.[72] Following their meeting, it was announced that a pastoral letter would be written to address the issues involving the sexual abuse of children.[73]
The letter was released by the Vatican on 20 March 2010.[74] In the letter addressed to the Catholics of Ireland, the Pope said he was "truly sorry" for the harm done to Catholics who suffered "sinful and criminal" abuse at the hands of priests, brothers and nuns.[75] He acknowledged the "serious mistakes" made by the clergy.[5] The letter did not ask for the resignation of the Cardinal Primate of All Ireland, Seán Brady, and did not address the Ryan and Murphy reports.[76] The letter was to be read out at Mass on 21 March 2010.[77]
Reaction to the contents of the letter was mixed. The letter was well received by Cardinal Brady, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin and the Conference of Religious of Ireland (CORI).[78] Survivors of Child Abuse coordinator John Kelly said in a statement, "This letter is a possible step to closure and we owe it to ourselves to study it and to give it a measured response. We are heartened by the Pontiff's open acceptance that the abusive behavior of priests and religious were criminal acts."[79] Others did not think the letter went "far enough".[75] One victim of abuse, Andrew Madden, called upon the Pope to resign.[80] One in Four, a group representing victims of sexual abuse, said that they were "deeply disappointed" with the letter.[75]
False allegations[edit]
Not all allegations made against priests have turned out to be true. Fr. Liam O'Brien, parish priest at Currow, in Killarney, County Kerry, was subjected to claims of sexual abuse for more than four years starting in December 2008. In May 2013, his accuser, Eileen Culloty, a woman in his parish who had stalked and harassed the priest, even disrupting a funeral service he was conducting in 2011, apologised unreservedly in a letter read to the High Court. The woman admitted fabricating the allegations and said O'Brien was a person of the utmost integrity.[81]
The spectacular conviction of Nora Wall a former Irish sister of the Sisters of Mercy was found to be based on evidence from unreliable witnesses who admitted to lying.