The report was a long time coming, with the first head of the commission resigning in protest at the lack of cooperation she was getting from the government. Well, the Catholic Church is immensely powerful in Ireland. From the Times (London):
An interim report published in 2003 provided a glimpse inside a house of horrors, with hundreds of internees at “industrial schools” describing “being beaten on every part of their body”; some of these beatings being administered in front of onlookers with the victim stripped naked.
Sexual abuse of minors was commonly linked with violence, the report said, and “ranged from detailed interrogation about sexual activity, inspection of genitalia, kissing, fondling of genitalia, masturbation of witness by abuse and vice versa, oral intercourse, rape and gang rape”. Some of the victims experienced abuse throughout their time in the care of religious orders.
Among the orders investigated were the Sisters of Mercy, which was responsible for the largest number of children’s institutions including the now notorious Goldenbridge, and the Christian Brothers, who ran institutions for mainly teenage boys such as Artane and Letterfrack.
And the final report was just as bad as originally feared. From the Independent:
A fiercely debated, nine-year investigation into Ireland's Roman Catholic-run institutions says priests and nuns terrorised thousands of boys and girls in workhouse-style schools for decades — and government inspectors failed to stop the chronic beatings, rapes and humiliation.
High Court Justice Sean Ryan today unveiled the 2,600-page final report of Ireland's Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse, which is based on testimony from thousands of former students and officials from more than 250 church-run institutions.
More than 30,000 children deemed to be petty thieves, truants or from dysfunctional families — a category that often included unmarried mothers — were sent to Ireland's austere network of industrial schools, reformatories, orphanages and hostels from the 1930s until the last church-run facilities shut in the 1990s.
The report found that molestation and rape were "endemic" in boys' facilities, chiefly run by the Christian Brothers order, and supervisors pursued policies that increased the danger. Girls supervised by orders of nuns, chiefly the Sisters of Mercy, suffered much less sexual abuse but frequent assaults and humiliation designed to make them feel worthless.
The Catholic Church was, as always, far more concerned with their own institution than with the children under their care:
The commission dismissed as implausible a central defense of the religious orders — that, in bygone days, people did not recognize the sexual abuse of a child as a criminal offense, but rather as a sin that required repentance.
In their testimony, religious orders typically cited this opinion as the principal reason why sex-predator priests and brothers were sheltered within the system and moved to new posts where they could still maintain daily contact with children.
But the commission said its fact-finding — which included unearthing decades-old church files, chiefly stored in the Vatican, on scores of unreported abuse cases from Ireland's industrial schools — demonstrated that officials understood exactly what was at stake: their own reputations.
It cited numerous examples where school managers told police about child abusers who were not church officials — but never did this when one of their own had committed the crime.
"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," it said.
Religious orders were chiefly concerned about preventing scandal, not the danger to children, it said.
The Catholic Church knew what was going on. From Sky News:
The church was aware long-term sex offenders were repeatedly abusing children, the damning report revealed.
The inquiry found that paedophiles were moved from school to school each time their behaviour was uncovered.
Moved to new parishes, whenever their behavior threatened a scandal in the Catholic Church, child rapists could easily find new victims. Is it any wonder this report struck Ireland like a bombshell?
But it's been a year now, so what is the Catholic Church doing in Ireland these days? After all these horrible revelations, what's the big concern of church leaders? Well, liberals, of course! What else?
From the Irish Independent:
Vatican investigators to Ireland appointed by Pope Benedict XVI are to clamp down on liberal secular opinion in an intensive drive to re-impose traditional respect for clergy, according to informed sources in the Catholic Church.
The nine-member team led by two cardinals will be instructed by the Vatican to restore a traditional sense of reverence among ordinary Catholics for their priests, the Irish Independent has learned. ...
An emphasis will be placed on an evangelisation campaign to overcome the alienation of young people scandalised by the spate of sexual abuse of children and by later cover-ups of paedophile clerics by leaders of the institutional church.
A major thrust of the Vatican investigation will be to counteract materialistic and secularist attitudes, which Pope Benedict believes have led many Irish Catholics to ignore church disciplines and become lax in following devotional practices such as going on pilgrimages and doing penance.
It's amazing that "traditional respect for clergy" has fallen off in Ireland, don't you think? What happened to that "traditional sense of reverence among ordinary Catholics for their priests"? Gee, I wonder what could have caused Irish Catholics to lose that? Obviously, it must the fault of those horrible liberals with their secular ideas!
And clearly, what's needed is an intense "evangelisation campaign to overcome the alienation of young people." How could they be alienated, anyway? They just need to forget about the rape of children and the decades-long cover-up by church leaders. So what if the Catholic Church just moved pedophile priests around, helping them find new, unsuspecting victims when their first parish became too hot for comfort?
As cardinal, Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger) was known as "God's Rottweiler," but that wasn't because he was eager to defend children, women, or other innocent members of the church. No, it was because of his vigor in rooting out liberals and enforcing strict obedience to church teachings. Well, the Catholic Church is the last home of the old medieval "divine right of kings" idea, the belief that leaders are appointed by God and so must be obeyed in all things.
Forget child-abusing priests. Rooting out liberals is what really concerns the church, and not just in Ireland. Here's another report, this one from America:
Three Catholic women's communities in Washington state are being investigated by the Vatican. They were chosen for review as part of an extensive investigation into American nuns. The Vatican says it's following up on complaints of feminism and activism.
Oh, no! Feminism and activism? That sounds like it might be... liberal! Get the exorcists, quick! And worst of all, it's a bunch of
I'm just amazed that there's anyone left in the Catholic Church. But religious belief is a weird thing. When you've been brainwashed since you were an infant, I suppose it can be hard to break away. But this is a perfect example of why faith is such a poor way to get your beliefs. You other believers, don't be so smug that you're not Catholic, because faith-based belief of any kind is fundamentally unreliable. (Look at suicide bombers if you want another example. Islamic militants are just as firmly convinced that their faith is right as you are about your own.) Reason and evidence - especially evidence - are much, much better ways to determine the truth.
But consider the evidence of decades of sexual abuse of children, and the massive cover-up by church leaders who simply moved child rapists from parish to parish. And now look at what really gets their angry attention: liberal thinking. Women starting to think for themselves. Yeah, liberals are so much worse than child rapists, aren't they? Women should simply shut up and obey men. And don't get me started about those secularists!
I don't think the Catholic Church has its priorities straight. What about you?
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