IRELAND
The Journal
August 9, 2018
By Colm O’Gorman
Colm O’Gorman says he had believed Pope John Paul II when he said he loved the young people of Ireland – but instead, the pope protected his institution, not children.
WHEN POPE JOHN Paul II came to Ireland I was 13 years old. Just over a year later, I was raped for the first time by a Roman Catholic priest. I am just one of very many victims of such abuse.
Between 1936 and 1970, 137,000 children were detained in industrial schools and reformatories operated by the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland. The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse investigated the treatment of children by the religious congregations which ran the institutions.
The Ryan Report details horrific and inexcusable neglect by congregations who were well paid by the state to ‘care’ for those detained in their institutions.
It documents the sexual assault and rape of children. It describes forced labour, depraved and shocking brutality. More than 90% of witnesses to the commission reported being physically abused. In addition to being beaten, they described other forms of abuse such as being flogged, kicked and otherwise physically assaulted; scalded, burned and held under water.
Over 10,000 women and girls were held in Magdalene Laundries from 1922 to the time the last laundry closed in 1996. The Ferns Report documented the cases of over 100 victims of sexual abuse by priests in the Diocese of Ferns between the years 1962 and 2002 – the total number of victims in that diocese alone is of course substantially higher.
The Murphy Commission investigated allegations of child sexual abuse by priests in the Archdiocese of Dublin over the period 1975 to 2004.
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