CALDEY ISLAND (WALES)
The Guardian
November 21, 2017
By Amanda Gearing and Harriet Sherwood
Survivors’ organisation demands inquiry into allegations against Father Thaddeus Kotik, who died in 1992
Three more women have come forward to claim they were sexually abused by a Cistercian monk at Caldey Island abbey in the 1970s and 80s, as a survivors’ organisation demanded an inquiry into the allegations.
Macsas, an organisation that supports survivors of clerical abuse, said an inquiry was needed to establish the extent of the alleged abuse. Meanwhile the children’s commissioner for Wales has asked the abbey for information on its child protection procedures.
The commissioner, Sally Holland, said she wanted “to make sure that any child or young person visiting Caldey or its churches is safe”, and she had discussed the allegations with the Catholic Safeguarding Advisory Service, who did not respond to a request for comment.
The fresh claims follow the disclosure in the Guardian last week that six women had brought a civil claim against the Cistercian order on the island off the coast of Pembrokeshire, alleging they were sexually abused as children by one of its monks, Father Thaddeus Kotik, who died in 1992.
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