No Change Among Religious Orders Protecting Children

Irish Examiner
April 6, 2017

http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/no-change-among-religious-orders-protecting-children-784696.html

Three religious orders, including notorious paedophile Fr Brendan Smyth’s Norbertines, have shown no “real change from their historical behaviour” in terms of safeguarding children, writes Conall O Fatharta.

A series of reports by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSCCI) severely criticises three of the four orders reviewed.

The performances in the recent past of the De La Salle Brothers, the Norbertine order of priests, and the Nazareth Sisters are criticised for failing to “demonstrate any real change from their historical behaviour, in terms of ensuring good safeguarding practice or putting in place effective pastoral responses to complainants who have made allegations of abuse”.

The NBSCCI notes that, across the three orders, the case management records were “poor or non-existent” and responses to allegations of abuse were driven by legal advisers and lacked any pastoral approach.

Brendan Smyth

All three were found to have delayed in reporting allegations to statutory bodies, including police and child protection services, and, in some cases, reports were not made at all.

Opportunities were missed to safeguard children and this was particularly clear in the case of the Norbertines’ handling of Fr Smyth.

Where ministry with children was still active during the period of review, the NSBCCI notes that the Norbertines showed “an absence of any commitment to understanding or adopting good child safeguarding practice”.

The three orders engaged in such poor practice that “urgent corrective action” is required in order for them to adequately ensure the safeguarding of children. Their records were also found to be not well maintained, making the reviewers’ work difficult.

They found 512 allegations of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse had been made against 146 priests, brothers, and nuns belonging to the four congregations. A total of five people were convicted in court.

The vast majority of these relate to the De La Salle Brothers and the Nazareth Sisters. It is noted the total number of allegations relating to the Norbertines is “not known”.

The order Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd is, however, praised for showing an evolving and proactive approach to child safeguarding.

The NSBCCI notes that, in the past year, the De La Salle Brothers and Nazareth Sisters have engaged more fully with the group to develop improved safeguarding structures

The Nobertines said in a statement that it was addressing the failings noted in the report “as a matter of urgency”.

The De La Salle Brothers said it has already addressed a number of issues raised and its historic reporting “is a work in process”.

The Nazareth Sisters welcomed the recommendations in the report and said it was “heartened” its commitment to engage fully with the NBSCCI was acknowledged.

Norbertine order of priests

The NSBCCI was not satisfied allegations of child safeguarding have been adequately addressed by the Norbertines, either in the past or at present.

It notes an absence of records to demonstrate what action has been taken in terms of reporting to the civil authorities, to offering pastoral support, or to managing risk.

“Overall, the management of Norbertine priests, about whom there have been very serious concerns, has been very poor. In fact, it would not be unfair to label it as careless,” states the report.

There is no information on the files to evidence any consistent and direct notification by the Norbertines of child protection allegations to An Garda Siochana and reviewers could not clearly state that they had access to and examined all allegations.

The NSBCCI also said “there has not been any realisation of the importance of child safeguarding” in the Norbertine canonry in Ireland.

De La Salle Brothers

The NSBCCI said it has “reservations about the quality and completeness” of case records in the De La Salle Brothers.

“The absence of copies of written notifications to statutory child protection services and police, the lack of clear contemporaneous records, and of an accessible narrative about what had been done, as well as the non-existence of any record of canonical processes are all evidence of substandard case recording,” states the report.

The reviewers estimate there are eight De La Salle Brothers still alive, who remain within the congregation and have allegations against them.

It was noted the order had no discernible policy on how best to respond to reports; making notifications to the relevant statutory agencies; conducting rigorous internal investigations; instituting appropriate canonical processes; developing (interim) safety management plan; or on pastoral outreach to complainants.

Sisters of Nazareth

The NSBCCI criticised the order for being “exceptionally slow” to take up its responsibility for child safeguarding.

“The first Church guidelines were published in Ireland in 1996, but it was 2015 before the congregation appeared to take any real action; this is completely unacceptable,” states the report.

The order’s practice of effectively passing on responsibility for the management of allegations to its solicitors is criticised as “not acceptable”. It says case management is an obligation which each Church authority has to properly undertake on its own behalf. A further consequence of the practice is that it is “not possible to establish the level of their compliance with relevant child protection standards”.

“The Sisters of Nazareth also have a moral responsibility to address the welfare of those adults who have been abused while in their care as children. Unfortunately, the reviewers saw no evidence of any plans made by the congregation to do so,” states the report.