‘A year after the 1979 papal visit I was raped by a priest’ – why abuse survivors are gathering during Pope Francis’ visit this month

DUBLIN (IRELAND)
Independent

August 2, 2018

By Rachel Farrell

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/a-year-after-the-1979-papal-visit-i-was-raped-by-a-priest-why-abuse-survivors-are-gathering-during-pope-francis-visit-this-month-37179560.html

Colm O’Gorman, Executive Director of Amnesty Ireland, calls on survivors of clerical abuse to gather in solidarity during Pope Francis’ visit at the end of the month

“Over the weekend I was reading an article that asked readers where they were in 1979 when Pope John Paul visited Ireland. I do remember – I was 13. I went to a Christian Brother’s School. I went to Mass in Wexford every Sunday. I went to a Catholic youth group. Everything I did revolved around the church at that time.

“My brother and sister went to see the pope, but I didn’t get to go. At the time, I remember being disappointed that I wasn’t going. It was a huge, huge moment.

“A year later when I was 14, I was raped by a Catholic priest for the first time.”

These are the words of Colm O’Gorman, Executive Director of human rights organisation Amnesty Ireland, and a survivor of clerical abuse.

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