To deliberately malnourish and beat children so that, in some cases, their bones are broken, is bad. To systematically sexually abuse them over a number of years is evil. And for some remote, generalized individuals years later to say “Sorry” is not good enough.
The physical scars of endemic emotional, physical, and sexual abuse of thousands of children may have healed (though in many cases the victims of that abuse will carry physical markers with them for life), but clearly the psychological damage will remain unhealed for many of them. The recent report into Child Abuse within Catholic Institutions in Ireland (Executive Summary of the five volume report HERE), although exposing the staggering scale of the problem, will not help many to heal. In fact, the failure to name the perpetrators and bring them to justice, will do nothing but twist a brutal knife into a very painful wound.
A child growing up in Ireland several years ago knew two things: 1) adults were always right; 2) adults who were priests and nuns were especially always right. So, when a priest or a nun abuses you part of you thinks that he or she must be right and that you must be wrong. And you must be very wrong and dirty if they are doing these things to you. Years later, when you began to question that and found the monumental courage to speak about the obscene acts that took place, hardly anybody listened to you, hardly anybody believed you. Pressure was put on you at parish level. You were told not to raise the past for the good of the church.
In order for the healing process to continue and not be sent into almost terminal decline, many of the abuse survivors need something more. From working with several abuse survivors, I suspect many of them might want:
- an acknowledgement from the abuser that what the survivors said happened did actually happen and was very wrong;
- a sense that the abuser has started to try to grasp the depth of the psychological trauma that his or her actions caused;
- an apology.
For many, justice will also need to be seen to be done. Actions speak louder than words, and the failure to bring the perpetrators to justice says loudly and clearly: “What happened to you is less important than the reputation of the people and institution that did these deeds. What happened was not significant enough for people to be punished. You are still not important enough to take seriously. You can still be abused with impunity.”
No real names, whether of victims or perpetrators, appear in the Irish Report, and the findings will not be used for criminal prosecutions - in part because the Christian Brothers successfully sued the commission in 2004 to keep the identities of all of its members, dead or alive, unnamed in the report.
The document concluded that church officials encouraged ritual beatings and consistently shielded their orders’ paedophiles from arrest amid a “culture of self-serving secrecy”. It also found that government inspectors failed to stop the chronic beatings, rapes, and humiliation.
It is difficult not to conclude that the evil culture of “self-serving secrecy” and deference to the church is continuing. Whose interests are being served by the secrecy? Certainly not those of the survivors.
I will let some of the conclusions from the report speak for themselves:
Cases of sexual abuse were managed with a view to minimising the risk of public disclosure and consequent damage to the institution and the Congregation. This policy resulted in the protection of the perpetrator. When lay people were discovered to have sexually abused, they were generally reported to the Gardai. When a member of a Congregation was found to be abusing, it was dealt with internally and was not reported to the Gardaı´.
The damage to the children affected and the danger to others were disregarded. The difference in treatment of lay and religious abusers points to an awareness on the part of Congregational authorities of the seriousness of the offence, yet there was a reluctance to confront religious who offended in this way. The desire to protect the reputation of the Congregation and institution was paramount. Congregations asserted that knowledge of sexual abuse was not available in society at the time and that it was seen as a moral failing on the part of the Brother or priest. This assertion, however, ignores the fact that sexual abuse of children was a criminal offence.
The recidivist nature of sexual abuse was known to religious authorities. The documents revealed that sexual abusers were often long-term offenders who repeatedly abused children wherever they were working. Contrary to the Congregations’ claims that the recidivist nature of sexual offending was not understood, it is clear from the documented cases that they were aware of the propensity for abusers to re-abuse. The risk, however, was seen by the Congregations in terms of the potential for scandal and bad publicity should the abuse be disclosed. The danger to children was not taken into account.
When confronted with evidence of sexual abuse, the response of the religious authorities was to transfer the offender to another location where, in many instances, he was free to abuse again. Permitting an offender to obtain dispensation from vows often enabled him to continue working as a lay teacher.
Men who were discovered to be sexual abusers were allowed to take dispensation rather than incur the opprobrium of dismissal from the Order. There was evidence that such men took up teaching positions sometimes within days of receiving dispensations because of serious allegations or admissions of sexual abuse. The safety of children in general was not a consideration.
Sexual abuse was known to religious authorities to be a persistent problem in male religious organisations throughout the relevant period.
Nevertheless, each instance of sexual abuse was treated in isolation and in secrecy by the authorities and there was no attempt to address the underlying systemic nature of the problem. There were no protocols or guidelines put in place that would have protected children from predatory behaviour. The management did not listen to or believe children when they complained of the activities of some of the men who had responsibility for their care. At best, the abusers were moved, but nothing was done about the harm done to the child. At worst, the child was blamed and seen as corrupted by the sexual activity, and was punished severely.
This is an excellent post. I keep changing my mind about commenting on it since I suspect I will get carried away, wander off the point or make my comment too personal. Plus I suspect everyone else will disagree with me (not that that would stop me!!)
What happened in Eire is too horrible to imagine and reading about it made me feel physically sick. It makes me wonder how people can still believe that the Catholic Church is a “good” thing with which to be associated and that enforced celibacy of Catholic priests is possible. That these people have escaped prosecution, when they are known, makes me very angry.
However, I do think it is very dangerous to think that an apology from the individual perpetrator (rather than the Church) will help. I think it is right that offenders should be prosecuted and punished (as anyone else would be if they were known) and that the process for that should be open and fair. And if that gives victims a sense of peace then I think that is good - knowing that the person could not do it again to someone else would give me some sense of peace for instance. But to expect an apology or understanding of wrong-doing from the abuser is probably less reasonable. Child abusers and rapists are usually serial offenders who generally-speaking only pretend to be sorry - they are often cunning and deceitful. To rely on a response from them (which would probably not be genuine in the vast majority of cases) to help to heal yourself is probably not a good thing. Sometimes it is better not to know who the abuser/person who hurt you was, so that you do not rely on anything from them to find a way to deal with it. Confronted with people getting on with their lives as if nothing has happened must be almost impossible to deal with, but I do think you have to find a way that demands nothing of them other than, a wish to see justice done and punishment meted out.
Do you know what I am saying? I don’t actually think that hearing someone say “sorry” will help - or at least I think you would have to already be healed if it did help.
I know you have more experience in speaking to people who have been through similar ordeals to this, than I have, but I have kind of worked through this in my own head over a long period of time (admittedly over something a little different), and I do think peace can only be found within yourself (well, for me anyway!) and waiting and hoping that it will come from outside just delays the process and perhaps leads to further problems later on.
Any secular organization found to be involved in child abuse would be closed down and thoroughly investigated by the police and those guilty of crimes charged and brought to trial. The fact that the Catholic Church is a religious institution cannot be regarded as offering it any special dispensation.
I think it is now up to the governments of countries were abuse took place to send in the police to investigate and to charge those against whom evidence of guilt is available. In the meantime, the Catholic Church should be barred from running schools, orphanages or any other institutions involving children.
If this is not done, then it will indicate the extent to which national governments are under the thumb of the Church.
In issuing half-hearted apologies and hypocritical expressions of regret and, moreover, offering out-of-court settlements to victims, the Church is obviously hoping that this scandal (though “scandal” is far too mild a word for it) will eventually blow over and will be forgotten.
It must not be forgotten; must not be allowed to blow over. Unless and until the Catholic Church accepts judgement, turns over the guilty to the police and reforms itself root and branch (under a different leader, of course), it must not be allowed off the hook.
Unfortunately, I do not think national governments have the will to deal with the matter, in some cases because they risk revealing their own past failures to act but also because the Church is such a big and vicious opponent. I think we will see attempts by governments to declare the issue “closed”.
That leaves us: you and me and all the other ordinary people out there, yes, including Catholics, because all decent Catholics must be as outraged as we are. We must not let the matter rest until it is well and truly brought to a just conclusion.
Outstanding post, one of your finest I feel. I can tell you have researched this carefully. I was going to write much along the same lines as Silver Tiger. I have to agree with the majority of what he says here.This is so shocking.
My own gut view is how powerful an institution must be when a government does not bring it to justice. What kind of influence does it hold?
Is there any way this post, with you as the author of course, could be placed on my own blog onevoice? I think is is too an important debate to not give it maximum coverage.
While my daughter’s Catholic school is an excellent one and I am sure the school would utterly condemn this act/ crime in every way, I confess I hardly rest easy tonight, knowing my hard earned money is in-directly supporting an institution that has been an instrument of such un-imaginable horror and abuse.
The features of the Irish situation that struck me the hardest are:
a) the extent of the conspiracy to cover up the foul deeds, and
b) the apparent lack of deep remorse on the Church’s part.
Oh, there’s been some remorse, but it seems inadequate compared to the wrongs that were done. It seems that the “wonder-working power of the blood of the lamb” was tragically deficient in the lives of far too many Church officials.
Reluctant Blogger
Thanks for your input. I wouldn’t want to give an impression that a personal ’sorry’ makes it right, but I do feel that for some, a personal acknowledgement of guilt and remorse can be important. Many of the survivors of abuse that I know still feel enraged that the crime has not been accepted as such by the perpetrator, which, of course, continues the insult and abuse. That for me was the real issue here - the continuing of the abuse through the legalized silence. They are STILL not important enough to be taken seriously. I do agree with you 100% however, that the survivors need to find their own ways of moving on and of not being dependent on the reactions of anyone else to achieve that.
SilverTiger
The inconsistency is so maddening, and so potentially dangerous for the children. As you say, any other institution would have to demonstrate a radical change in procedures and culture before being allowed to work with vulnerable people after such a major breach of trust. And I agree, the fact that the emperor is powerful should not mean that we stop pointing out the absence of his clothes.
onethoughtfulwoman
I think the power of the Roman Catholic church stems from the worldwide influence and wealth, from history, and from the association with god which makes it almost infallible in some senses. However, another important source of power is the respect that a large number of people feel, and I strongly suspect that the revealed horrors of recent years are making a significant dent in that reputation, and hence influence and power.
the chaplain
Interesting point. I hadn’t thought of that. It is amazing that the efficacy of the blood of the lamb always seems to work in history, in books about other people, but never in the local priest or congregation.
I join the choir; great post!
I just wrote about a female sex offender whom I speculate may have been abused herself and linked to this article.
[...] sexual danger. Even today the Church in Ireland is still trying to cover up the names of some [...]