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A REVIEW INTO some religious orders that ran schools in Ireland has found “substantial wrongdoing” with poor reporting practices, poor record keeping, and opportunities missed when it came to safeguarding children.
The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCCI) similar to the Historical Abuse Inquiry (HIA), had waited until after the HIA had published its report.
The HIA found “unspeakable cruelty and vicious abuse”, and the NBSCCCI found said that their results were in line with the HIA’s.
The report looked at the De la Salle Brothers, Norbertines, Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd and the Sisters of Nazareth.
Teresa Devlin, CEO of the NBSCCCI, said: “Our goal here was not to replicate the work of the HIA, though of course there is some overlap.
The review of the De la Salle Brothers, Norbertines and the Sisters of Nazareth highlighted concerns relating to weak, or on occasion, poor practice which they are now working with us to correct.
A “common theme” of failures across the three different groups cited by Devlin include:
Little improvement was found within these three orders, according to the report.
The report also details the number of priests/brothers/sisters in the order, the number of allegations, suspicious and concerns raised, and the numbers convicted.
In a total of 512 cases where allegations, suspicions or concerns of abuse were noted, there were only 5 people convicted.
In the case of De la Salle and Norbertines, the majority of allegations related to sexual abuse.
In a statement, the Norbertines said: “[We] wish to again recognise the hurt caused to innocent children by members of our Canonry.
We again unreservedly apologise most sincerely for the hurt and harm caused to these young people, while again also accepting that our management of the men concerned and the accusations presented to us were quite inadequate.
The statement added that they no longer have any community apostolates.
In a statement, Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd said that “we will continue to work with [NBSCCCI] in doing everything possible to ensure the safety of children into the future”.
These church bodies are now understood to have signed a memorandum of understanding that they would step up their efforts in ensuring that children in their care were safeguarded, and that had embarked on a series of improvements.
The NBSCCCI concluded that it would work with all congregations to improve practice and supporting them in implementing recommendations made to them.
The terms of reference and the reports on individual groups can be found here.
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ITS TIME THESE ORDERS WERE PUT IN PLACE THE STATUS OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS AND INCOME TAX HAS TO BE ADDRESSED
@James Mc Loughlin: the Henry VIII method of dealing with these perverts might focus some “religious” minds in paying what they owe for starters, no psy, take your property away….how can anyone allow these abusive organisations to exist?
The religious orders simply don’t get it and they don’t get it because they have escaped all consequences and repercussions.
Just so we are clear here, this was 512 accusations of abuse, sexual and physical in only 4 schools. There are around 150 other schools directly run by religious orders (all of which have a extremely high suspicion of abusing children, but have historically been given free reign by the gardai to “manage” their cult members own raping), as well as over 3,000 schools controlled by priests who are members of the same orders.
And for some reason, we continue to allow these cult branches to run schools? Again: an unaccountable group with a proven record of rape and abuse of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of children, and we allow them to run our public schools. Every politician in the dail is no better than a guard at a concentration camp.
Ok. Did not read article. Is there some sort of group I can join specifically to put pressure on the church to sort their ship out and give us our money. And get out of our schools. Basically roll us back to pagan times. Or can someone, preferably non part affiliated start one? Not Humanist Ireland though, ir Campaign for a Secular Society, yuck. Tho maybe those sorts of groups are worth a second look. Have to do something and don’t want to start nailing letters to church doors.
@Mark Gearey: self-immolation will turn a few heads.
@Brad Levin: Brad you go first, we will put it on Youtube,should make a difference
@Brad Levin: It looks cool, I’ll grant you but does it really do anything? Besides scorch your lawn?
146 accused priests, how many were never found? Are there any priests not involved in child sex abuse?
@Rui Firmino: There most likely are priests out there, that are not involved in any abuse, but the majority of them seem to be
“In a total of 512 cases where allegations, suspicions or concerns of abuse were noted, there were only 5 people convicted.”
Sounds like there were a lot of unsubstantiated allegations made according to the courts.
@Brad Levin:
Unsubstantiated claims? caused by a lack of systematic investigation and under reporting of said claims by the religious powers that be? Sounds about right
Considering the exulted status of the church in Irish society for many years, and in particular the prominence of the religious orders in care homes and schools its not surprising that there have been so few convictions. Also worth bearing in that abuse can have a powerful impact on victims and is often not reported. When it is reported, it is often reported years later.
@Brad Levin: the fact that cases did not proceed go conviction because of lack of corroboration, elapse of time, lost evidence, mislaid Garda files and other factors does not mean that the allegations were not true.
@Brad Levin: sounds like cover ups to me
@Brad Levin: Cos the courts, the gardai and the dpp always get it right. So, obviously anything that didn’t result in a conviction was not a crime. Sweet.
By the actions of the institutional Roman Catholic Church, you shall know it.
@Tony Daly: Like the old hymn, ” and they’ll know we are christians by our love” , not the lind of love I thought they meant tho.
Who caused the delays in reporting allegations to the police and child protection? hardly the victims, church authorities cannot wash away how they perverted the course of justice to protect a religious cult. How government agencies just threw these children into closed evil dens of sin without ever checking is a crime in itself. “unspeakable cruelty and vicious abuse” including starvation and torture by groups who won’t go away. They will still be laughing at victims in twenty years time and still availing of tax breaks. Religion is just another business and should be taxed like other companies.
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