It sounds like Christian Brothers is offering a hefty apologetic sum to victims of child abuse in Ireland. But does it make up for years of pain, heartache, and fighting for justice? Probably not.
The Brothers said that €34 million in cash would be used to help victims of abuse, whose plight was identified in a government report in May. However, the move was criticised, with one victims’ group describing it as “mere smoke and mirrors”.
The Ryan report chronicled cases of tens of thousands of children who suffered systematic sexual, physical and mental abuse over decades at residential homes run by 18 congregations. It concluded that the Brothers order was responsible for most of the cases.
€127 million worth of property is part of that deal, too, but I don’t know what that includes, or how much good that does. Along with money, the Brothers are releasing an interim report regarding legal cases brought against them on behalf of victims.
Its publication was delayed by several years after a lengthy legal battle waged by the Brothers to withhold the names of all its members, dead or alive. An agreement was eventually struck in 2004, allowing the Brothers’ institutions to be identified.
More than a thousand witnesses testified to abuse in 216 schools and residential settings between 1914 and 2000. More than 800 individuals were identified as physical or sexual abusers — an extraordinary number compared with the handful of prosecutions and convictions. Ninety per cent of witnesses reported physical abuse while half reported sexual abuse.
“Acute and chronic contact and non-contact sexual abuse was reported, including vaginal and anal rape, molestation and voyeurism in both isolated cases and on a regular basis over long periods of time,” the report said.
The commission found that the worst offender was the Brothers’ order, which ran most of the institutions for older boys, while the another Catholic order, the Sisters of Mercy, which was supposed to care for girls, also came in for heavy criticism.
The Magdalene Sisters was based on girls from one of those schools. That’s one of the saddest movies I’ve ever watched.
Well anyway, it’s a start. Apologies are a place to start. It’s not enough, but it’s a start.
