Nuns, priests terrorised thousands

Nuns, priests terrorised thousands

May 21, 2009
Article from: The Australian

A 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 as well as retired 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, Associated Press has reported.

The report found that molestation and rape were "endemic'' in boys' facilities, chiefly run by the Christian Brothers order. 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.

"In some schools a high level of ritualised beating was routine. ... Girls were struck with implements designed to maximise pain and were struck on all parts of the body,'' the report said.

"Personal and family denigration was widespread.''

Victims of the system have long demanded that the truth of their experiences be documented and made public, so that children in Ireland never endure such suffering again.

But most leaders of religious orders have rejected the allegations as exaggerations and lies, and testified to the commission that any abuses were the responsibility of often long-dead individuals.

Sisters of Mercy and Christian Brothers, which ran most of the childcare facilities.

Many of the abuse victims fled Ireland as soon as they were old enough to start a new life in countries such as England, Australia and the United States.

Some priests accused of abuse were also sent by the church as far afield as Australia after complaints were lodged against them.

However, many others involved in abusing children are now dead.

The institutions were home to thousands of abandoned or neglected children as well as those ordered to live there by courts after being found guilty of petty crimes.

Some unmarried mothers also ended up in institutions known as Magdalene Laundries after being sent there by their own families.

Many of those who complained about being beaten or sexually abused and left to starve were not believed.

Victims hope the release of the report on Wednesday will finally reveal the truth about what they endured for so many years and that the Catholic church will finally admit abuse did occur at their institutions.

One victim, Thomas Wall, said he had been left physically and emotionally scarred by the reform schools.

"I found it impossible to mix with people, to trust people, to form any type of relationship with the opposite sex," he told the BBC.

"It damaged me totally, I think, for life. I'm convinced of that."

Ireland's former prime minister Bertie Ahern set up the commission of inquiry in 2000 after TV documentaries in the late 1990s uncovered evidence of widespread abuse at children's homes.

He also offered an apology on behalf of the state to abuse victims, many of whom gave evidence to the inquiry about the sexual abuse and repeated beating they suffered at the children's homes.

The Irish government has already paid out about 1 billion euros ($1.76 billion) in compensation to 12,500 abuse victims.

More than 60 per cent of those claiming compensation still live in Ireland while 33 per cent are in Britain and four per cent in Australia and the US.

: An Excerpt