Catholic Church Covered Up Child Sexual Abuse in Irish Schools: What else is new?

After ten years of investigations a government inquiry into sexual abuse in Catholic run schools, orphanages and hospitals has released an exhaustive and damning report.

Abuse Endemic
The inquiry commission uncovered:

…a substantial level of sexual abuse of boys in care that extended over a range from improper touching and fondling to rape with violence.

Corporal punishment in girls’ schools was:

pervasive, severe, arbitrary and unpredictable.

Church Knew About Dangers

The Commission determind that:

The recidivist nature of sexual abuse was known to religious authorities.

Church Concerned About Reputation, Not Risk to Children

Time and time again we have seen how the Catholic Church values it’s reputation more that the lives of the children under it’s care. The same pattern repeated itself in Ireland:

The risk was seen by the congregations in terms of potential for scandal and bad publicity should the abuse be disclosed. The danger to children was not taken into account.

Silence Protects the Abusers

If you have been a victim of sexual abuse by a priest, or any person in authority, please, please please tell someone. Silence only protects the abusers and the institutions that harbour them.

I have represented hundreds of victims of childhood sexual abuse in claims for compensation. As a public service I have prepared a resource guide for survivors of sexual abuse in Atlantic Canada. The guide contains a list of support groups throughout the Maritimes for survivors of sexual abuse.

You can receive a free copy of The Survivor’s Guide to Abuse Compensation Claims by contacting me through this blog, or my website at www.apmlawyers.com or by calling toll free in Atlantic Canada 1-877-423-2050.