Ireland Rocked by ’Harrowing’ Report on Clerical Sex Abuse in Schools

Inquiry unveils massive cover-up by the Church colluding with police, education officials

If you value articles like this, sign up for our daily email newsletter and support us with a donation.

A report published by the Department of Education has revealed "vivid, devastating, and harrowing" details of sexual abuse in Catholic schools run by 42 religious orders in Ireland.

Released on Tuesday by Minister for Education Norma Foley, the Report of the Scoping Inquiry into Historical Sexual Abuse in Day and Boarding Schools Run by Religious Orders, found 884 priests, teachers, and others, who abused 2,395 children in 308 schools across Ireland between 1927 and 2013.

The five most frequently cited orders for perpetrating sex abuse were the Spiritans (Holy Ghost Fathers), the Christian Brothers, the Jesuits, the Carmelite Fathers, and the De La Salle Brothers. 

The report asserts that the cover-up received active support from state authorities and law enforcement, who had the power to ensure the protection of churches or religious groups from standard law enforcement procedures. Furthermore, several victims vividly described a system of sexual abuse, which they stated was facilitated by other priests at the school.

Victims who participated in the inquiry described being molested, stripped naked, raped, and drugged amidst an atmosphere of terror and silence. Other participants in the inquiry were witnesses to sexual abuse perpetrated against schoolmates. 

The incidents of sexual abuse largely occurred between the early 1960s and the early 1990s, with the highest number of reported incidents occurring in the early to mid-1970s, the report found. 

"Appalling" sex abuse took place in various locations including in confessionals, classrooms, dormitories, sports and medical facilities, at musical and extracurricular activities; as well as in the private offices and residential quarters of school staff and religious order members.

Victims and witnesses spoke of being sexually abused in the presence of other children or adults; while others reported being sexually abused when alone with a priest or religious brother, teacher, other school staff or a visitor to their school. 

Many participants within the investigation highlighted the profound influence of receiving education during a period in Ireland's history characterized by the pervasive authority of the Catholic Church over all aspects of individuals' lives. Participants further noted that the influence exerted by the Church was perceived as "omnipresent." 

Consequently, they expressed a sense of being unable to question the Church or the conduct of its representatives. Some individuals recounted how this environment affected their parents' capacity to confront religious orders. As a result, many found themselves unable to disclose their experiences to anyone, including their parents.

Participants described having a sense that representatives of the Catholic Church could act with impunity. Many participants described how their experience of sexual abuse had led them to reject the Catholic faith.  

On one of his first nights, a former schoolboy testified to seeing a boy being raped by two priests in the dormitory while the others were sleeping. The boy was beaten unconscious, and they took turns with him.

Confession was identified by some participants of the inquiry as presenting particular risk for children, as it was done at that time behind closed doors and what was said was supposed to be a secret.

In one case, the abuser took the participant up to the church gallery to see the organ and while there, anally raped the participant. 

Some participants reported that they were taken to offices or residential rooms on pretexts such as for discussions, sex education, confession or medical examinations where, on some occasions, they would be shown sex education material or pornography (heterosexual and homosexual in content.) 

A police officer who caught a member of a religious order with a 10-year-old child in a hotel room released the abuser "because of where he worked."  

One participant testified that he knows the school principal was aware of the acts of his colleagues, and was even in class with them while he or others were being abused or raped. The principal would open the door, see the abuse taking place, even rape in progress, and just close the door again.

Several testimonies described how priests or brothers would use their cassocks or habits to disguise the sex abuse: masturbating under the clerical garments while abusing victims or lift his clothing over the head of the victim in plain sight of the classroom to hide them from the rest of the class.

"He would put his left hand up my pants and fondle my genitalia, and I think his right hand was up inside his gown and I think he was masturbating," one victim recounted. 

Victims described being molested by the placing of hands down the back of their clothing, into their pants, shorts or trousers and fondling or squeezing their genitals or masturbating them, in some cases while the abuser concerned masturbated himself.

Victims said the impact of the sexual abuse when they were adults led to serious and ongoing difficulties in relationships, mental and physical health problems, addiction issues, lost career opportunities, and damage to their sense of place and/or community. 

Many described failed early intimate relationships and marriage breakdowns. Some said that, as a result of the sexual abuse, they decided not to have children; or when they did, it impacted their parenting, with many participants describing the effects of intergenerational trauma on their families. 

Participants frequently described a crisis in adulthood, such as a suicide attempt or time in a rehabilitation program, as a time when their childhood experiences came to the fore for the first time and were identified as a source of their difficulties, and this realization began the process of healing.

Responding to the Scoping Report, the Irish Bishops’ Conference released a statement on Thursday expressing their closeness to the victims and their determination to see that safeguarding measures continue to be implemented.

Bishop Kevin Doran, who authored the statement, appeared to downplay it claiming that “it would be naive in the extreme to suggest that child abuse was not also a reality in other schools, whether Catholic or of any other tradition.”

“As a bishop, I want to offer my sincere apology to all those who have been affected by abuse in the context of Church. I know from past experience that these words, however well intended, may sound hollow to survivors and their families,” he said. 

Dr. Jules Gomes, (BA, BD, MTh, PhD), has a doctorate in biblical studies from the University of Cambridge. Currently a Vatican-accredited journalist based in Rome, he is the author of five books and several academic articles. Gomes lectured at Catholic and Protestant seminaries and universities and was canon theologian and artistic director at Liverpool Cathedral.

Please join us in praying and fighting for Souls and Liberty; as well as, consider making a donation to support our work.