Catholic Priests abused thousands of boys and girls in Ireland!

Papal cross in Dublin

Throughout a period of more than 50 years, thousands of boys and girls in Ireland were physically, psychically and sexually molested and abused by priests and "sisters of mercy" at Irish Catholic institutions such as orphanages, schools and hospitals - claims the Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, set up by former Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern.

Ireland has to deal with the now-established fact that, alongside the warmth and intimacy, the kindness and generosity of Irish life and people, there was, for most of the history of the State, a deliberately maintained structure of vile and vicious abuse and violence.

Bertie Ahern, Ex- Premier Minister

The updated, five-volume or 2,500-page Commission Report (http://www.childabusecommission.com/rpt/ExecSummary.php) was published on 20th May 2009 amid angry scenes as victims demonstrated outside a press conference demanding copies (http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0520/breaking52.html?via=rel) The document (http://www.childabusecommission.com/rpt/) is the result of almost 10 years of investigation into beatings and rapes at orphanages, schools and hospitals from the 1930s until the 1990s. The inquiry heard confidential testimony from more than 1,000 people who had been in 216 institutions. The sheer scale and longevity of the torment inflicted on defenseless children – over 800 known abusers in over 200 institutions during this period – should alone make it clear that it was not accidental or opportunistic but systematic. 

How could it happen?
The failure of the religious orders to stop these crimes did not result from ignorance. The recidivist nature of child sexual abusers was understood by the Brothers, who nonetheless continued deliberately to place known offenders in charge of children, both in industrial schools and in ordinary primary schools.

Report had been long awaited

It is not the fact that the abuse continued because of secrecy. The very scale of the violence made it impossible to keep it sealed off from either officialdom or society at large. Contemporary complaints were made to the Garda, to the Department of Education, to health boards, to priests and to members of the public. But the department, “deferential and submissive” to the religious congregations, did not shout stop. Neither did anyone else. 
How could something like this happen? However unbelievable this may sound, as a friend of mine says, "Irish people were used to abuse of any kind. Throughout our history we were systematically molested and abused - as for example during the British occupancy, but the rage against it was merely seldom. That is why it took so long for Ireland to stand up and fight for it independence. Majority of Irish consider themselves as a non-violent beings, taught not to interfere with the authority of any kind, either is that the church, the school teachers, parents, bosses, you name it. It looks like this kind of attitude could result in that we would not stood up even to protect the defenseless children who lived in torture on a daily - basis. Even there were individuals who complied about this, it turned out that all of the incidents were placed under the carpet. You've heard the stories where the abused is becoming the abuser?"

System of threat

The key to understanding these attitudes is surely to realize that abuse was not a failure of the system. It was the system. Terror was both the point of these institutions and their standard operating procedure. Their function in Irish society was to impose social control, particularly on the poor, by acting as a threat.
When you are connecting your new home to, for example, new TV network, instead of receiving a letter from the company saying "thank you for being our new and valuable customer", the latter you will receive is full of threats, what will happen to you if you do not pay your bill when is due. If you are at a concert, wanting to enjoy the music of your favorite band, you may as well not enjoy it that much, for the music hall will be full of the 'guards' pushing you into pre-ordered rows for coats, for passage, if you stand out even for a step you will be asked to step back with the tone that does not accept non-compulsion. You have to behave strictly according to the rules, otherwise you will be punished - for your own good. Because of the society and for the sake of the society. When a plane lands into Ireland, and your very first step to go in is to go through the passport control, no matter what time of day or night, there will be several guardsman telling you where exactly you have to stand, if you are European, or non-European citizen, repeating their lines every few minutes, treating you almost as a sheep. The list could go on and on.

Social pact of the evil

So yes, the fascinating fact is that almost everybody knew what was happening behind the walls of those institutions, yet seems that no one tried to stop the abuse. There was a non-verbal understanding of the situation, a non-verbal agreement, social pact. The defects of the system "were exacerbated by the way it was operated by the (religious) congregations."
There is a nightmarish quality to this systemic malice, reminiscent of authoritarian regimes. The Report is writing about the children being "flogged, kicked… scalded, burned and held under water"; children placed under deliberate psychological torment inflicted through humiliation, expressions of contempt and the practice of incorrectly telling children that their parents were dead; children recorded as returned absconders having their heads shaved and of "ritualized" floggings in one institution; children being repeatedly sexually abused by many. The list of the offends is very long.

St Conleth's reformation school was involved

It came the time when all of those kinds of abuse have to be called by its proper name and it is – torture; the organized exploitation of the young boys and girls must be properly named - slavery. The torturers has to be brought in front of the face of justice, for it is what at least the today's Irish society owns to the tens of thousands of the victims. The quicker this process is progressing, and Ireland face with the shadows of its own past, the quicker the healing process may begin.

Holy father and father Fortune

Last 'industrial schools' were closed down in the early 90's. In 1999 former Prime Minister Bertie Ahern apologized to abuse victims on behalf of the state for a "collective failure to intervene, to detect their pain, to come to their rescue." Yet, not one name of the abusers has been publicly revealed. The Irish Catholic church still hold their secrecy and is asking for the names not to be published even if the person is dead or is still alive.
Under the 2002 indemnity agreement between the State and the congregations, the religious orders were awarded indemnity against all future claims if they paid €128 million in cash and property.

Last week, asked if the controversial deal would be reviewed, Brian Cowen said the Government would "take legal advice on that matter, but it appears at the moment that that may not be possible," he added.

Lavinia Amaldi

Links of reference:
Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uGIsYtttkk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLmCL-uIYoY&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-7uxBfHEVQ&feature=channel

Stories:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0520/breaking5.htm
http://un-truth.com/human-rights/irish-survivors-of-child-abuse-report-finally-published-sides-almost-completely-with-the-victims
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/still-missing-full-story-behind-the-children-shovelled-into-schools-1746320.html
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/medb-ruane/wicked-debased-special-world-where-children-were-destroyed-1751679.html
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/saying-never-again-means-little-unless-we-find-out-why-1747596.html
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0105/1230936655691.html

BBC - with videos:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8059826.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8060152.stm
The savage reality of dark days  
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2009/0521/1224247034262.html?via=mr

Irish movies recorded on a true story basis:
1. The Magdalene Sisters   (2002)
2. The Song for a Raggy Boy  (2003)