Sir, – I read your article about the Spiritans’/Holy Ghost Fathers’ intention to conduct “an audit of the reality of sexual abuse by Spiritan members and current safeguarding practices” (Home News, April 2nd).
As someone who was repeatedly abused by one of their members I can certainly verify the reality and felt moved to contribute to what seemed like a very positive step. The audit will be conducted by the National Board for the Safeguarding of Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC), so I went to its website to offer my services.
My first concern related to the independence of the NBSCCC and its ability to effectively do its job. I read on its website that it is entirely funded by the Catholic Church and saw that three of its nine board members are members of the Catholic clergy. While it has been responsible for some highly respected reports on abuse in the Roman Catholic church, I question its ability to be fully independent based on its funding and governance structure.
Interestingly, not one member of its board represents the voice of those that were abused. Would this input not be valuable in providing context? Could this not provide some real life balance to the otherwise academic and clerical input of psychologists and other board members?
I also had a long conversation with the man appointed by the Spiritans as the Delegate for Safeguarding Children. He did personally and sincerely apologise for what happened to me and other victims of abuse. However, I was more interested to find out what its plan was for the future and to questions like: what result will you consider a success at the end of this review? How far will you personally go to see that change occurs? How drastically will your organisation go to restore the trust you have lost? To these questions he either had no answer or would give no answer.
When the NBSCCC report comes out later this year, the Spiritans will have two choices. 1. Take radical action to address the recommendations. That should go as far as possibly removing themselves from the schools where they have so badly let down the children entrusted with their care; or 2. Thank the NBSCCC for its hard work and those who came forward for their courage, and say that they take their recommendations very seriously.
Previous experience shows that the Roman Catholic church has always chosen the safer option; this has meant little change, a loss of credibility and no healing for those who have been abused.
I will give my full commitment to the audit, however, I still have reservations about the process. Can an independent audit by an organisation funded, and to some extent governed, by the Roman Catholic Church truly be considered independent? With no clear plans for the future, personal courage or commitment to make a difference, will the Spiritans make the necessary changes? It may be cynical, but are the Holy Ghost Fathers more interested in preserving a comfortable lifestyle in prestigious south county Dublin schools than they are in fulfilling their ministry? – Yours, etc,