Most complaints concerned physical abuse

SISTERS OF MERCY:THE SISTERS of Mercy ran 26 industrial schools during the period investigated by the commission, making them the largest providers of care by nuns.

It became a unified congregation in the 1980s but before that, all convents operated independently of each other. Most complaints from former residents of these institutions concerned physical abuse but there were a number of serious incidents of sexual abuse perpetrated by lay staff in the schools.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/most-complaints-concerned-physical-abuse-1.766962 

Unholy childhood

When the Holy Childhood Of Jesus School in Harbor Springs was demolished last fall, so too, perhaps, was some of the evidence of alleged sexual and physical abuse.
That’s the belief of Veronica Pasfield, a University of Michigan doctoral candidate and Bay Mills tribal member. Pasfield is documenting the school’s history, along with the Mount Pleasant Indian Boarding School.

https://www.northernexpress.com/news/feature/article-3760-unholy-childhood/

Abuse survivor Gordon Hill calls for Catholic Church to properly compensate victims, not offer apologies

A witness who gave harrowing evidence at the child sex abuse royal commission has called for the Government to enforce a redress scheme that would ensure the Catholic Church pay compensation to victims of past crimes.

Despite the mounting evidence of the horrific legacy of clergy abuse across western Victoria, many survivors have yet to receive any compensation for the harm they endured as children and its lifelong effects.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-10/abuse-survivor-calls-for-financial-compensation-from-church/7019284 

Child abuse inquiry hears priest regularly raped boy at St Joseph's orphanage Neerkol

At the Royal Commission into the Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, David Owen has given evidence he was sodomised by Father Anderson at St Joseph's Orphanage Neerkol regularly over several years in the 1930s and 1940s. Mr Owen also described the physical abuse he suffered at the hands of the nuns who ran the orphanage.

Samantha Donovan

Show transcript

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-16/child-abuse-inquiry-hears-priest-regularly-raped/6397758 

Robert Burns—an auld radical

The ruling class loves to claim the 18th century Scottish poet Robert Burns as its own. Yet through Burns’ poetry, Charlie McKinnon uncovers his real, revolutionary legacy.  Robert Burns’ real, radical legacy is buried by the ruling class who like to claim him as “their own”.
Most people associate the 18th century Scottish poet with singing Auld Lang Syne on New Year’s Eve or Burns Supper events marking his birthday on 25 January. At such events, we’re presented with a sentimental and romanticised portrayal of Burns.

https://socialistworker.co.uk/art/43940/Robert+Burns+an+auld+radical 

Priest assaulted girl in Confessional Box

The Historical Abuse Inquiry has upheld an allegation from a former resident at Nazareth House that she was sexually abused at the age of four or five by a Sister at the Bishop Street home. The Inquiry team found that the incident was not reported to the police when the victim related it to another Sister many years later.
The Inquiry also accepted testimony from another witness that she was persistently abused from the ages of eight to 12 by a priest, including during one episode in a Confessional Box and another in a Sacristy. The priest sometimes gave her a mint after abusing her.

http://www.derryjournal.com/news/priest-assaulted-girl-in-confessional-box-1-7787621

The Historical Abuse Inquiry has upheld an allegation from a former resident at Nazareth House that she was sexually abused at the age of four or five by a Sister at the Bishop Street home.

Irish Bishops open up to the Vatican about sexual abuse

After a 10 year hiatus since their last Ad Limina, which usually takes place every five years, the Irish bishops came to Rome to discuss the state of the Church in Ireland.  

They met with nearly all the major departments of the Roman Curia and Pope Francis, where open discussions took place about issues such as migration, secularism, women in the Church and outreach to the poor. However, one main topic of interest was the clerical sex abuse in the country.

 

http://www.romereports.com/2017/01/23/irish-bishops-open-up-to-the-vatican-about-sexual-abuse 

HIA report shows politicians must hold institutions to account

Hearts and minds are already being appealed to; the battle for immortal souls cannot be far behind.
In the election campaign effectively under way already, the DUP will try desperately to stop the handling of public money being issue Number One. Politicians competing to represent the other main community will be quizzed not only on the point of having a Stormont, but also about their personal faith and morals.

http://www.irishnews.com/opinion/columnists/2017/01/24/news/fionnuala-o-connor-hia-report-shows-politicians-must-hold-institutions-to-account-901520/ 

Irish Catholic church child abuse: 'A cruel and wicked system'

In their distinctive Thunderbirds-style light-blue uniforms with red trim the Artane Boys Band are icons of Irish music. For decades, the band marched around the pitch at Croke Park, Dublin, and played across Ireland, Britain and the US.
But behind this image of boyhood whole­someness lay a darker truth. Until the 1970s thousands of the young men in the band were being abused, beaten and exploited at the industrial school that gave the ensemble its name.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/may/20/irish-catholic-church-child-abuse1 

Endemic' rape and abuse of Irish children in Catholic care, inquiry finds

Beatings and humiliation by nuns and priests were common at institutions that held up to 30,000 children, Ryan report states
Rape and sexual molestation were "endemic" in Irish Catholic church-run industrial schools and orphanages, a report revealed today. The nine-year investigation found that Catholic priests and nuns for decades terrorised thousands of boys and girls in the Irish Republic, while government inspectors failed to stop the chronic beatings, rape and humiliation.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/may/20/irish-catholic-schools-child-abuse-claims

Walk 10. Walking with sociologist Linda Connolly in Cork.

I was looking forward to walking with Linda Connolly, Professor of Sociology at University College Cork (who has since moved to Maynooth University) although I expected it to be quite harrowing too. Ireland has been rocked by revelations of institutional abuses in mother and baby homes, industrial schools, orphanages, asylums and Magdalene Laundries in recent years.
Women were committed to the Magdalene Laundries, often by family members and usually because they were seen as deviant or sexually promiscuous.  Linda is an expert on the Irish family and women’s issues, including women in Higher Education, and has written some brilliant work in these areas. Linda had previously sent me some material on the practice of performing symphysiotomies on women in Irish maternity hospitals from the 1940s to the 1980s, an issue she has also recently been interested in.[i]

https://walkingborders.com/walk-10-walking-with-sociologist-linda-connolly-in-cork/ 

Belfast altar boy abuse case 'appalling' says Clonard priest

THE rector of Clonard Monastery has urged victims of historical abuse to contact police after a man was convicted for sexually abusing an altar boy at a Novena in the 1980s.
Martin Cassidy was placed on probation for three years on Monday for abusing the 14-year old in 1988 at the west Belfast novena.  The court heard Cassidy, of Orchard Mews in Belfast, was volunteering at the church at the request of his brother, who at the time was a priest.

http://www.irishnews.com/news/2017/01/18/news/belfast-altar-boy-abuse-case-appalling-says-clonard-priest-890249/