Sunday, November 29, 2009 | Reason : In the News | print version

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The Brothers grim

by Patrick Barkham - guardian.co.uk

Thanks to LWS for the link.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/28/christian-brothers-ireland-child-abuse

It is not the memories of the kickings and lashings with a leather strap that make Tom Hayes pause and choke and break down. Nor is it the incessant bullying, the slave labour or the sexual abuse he suffered after dark in the dormitory. The memory that turns the 63-year-old former soldier's voice small with terror is one vivid image from his eight years in Glin industrial school, Limerick. "The first time I saw someone brought back to the school having absconded was one of the most frightening things I've ever witnessed," he says. "His head was shaved as punishment and then he took a really serious beating by two Christian Brothers. I've never forgotten it."

The trauma for Hayes and others has been stirred up again this week by the fourth major report in the past decade investigating the abuse of children by Ireland's Catholic clergy and teachers. A day before the government report made new revelations of the collusion of the Irish police and archbishops in covering up decades of sexual and physical torture, the Christian Brothers, the Catholic lay order at the heart of some of the most disturbing abuses, offered reparations of £145m in cash and land, to be handed over to independent trusts.

The revelations have all but destroyed a dying institution, in Ireland at least, where there are barely 250 Brothers left with an average age of 74. Last year they ceded control of 96 schools to a charitable trust, marking the end of two centuries of the Brothers educating boys in Ireland. The order may be diminished but its legacy still looms large over thousands of lives – and the development of Ireland. As Jim Beresford, who was confined to Dublin's notorious Artane school as a boy, puts it: "Ireland made the Christian Brothers and then they made Ireland."
...
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/28/christian-brothers-ireland-child-abuse

Posted: Sunday, November 29, 2009 | Permalink

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1. Comment #436251 by j.mills on November 29, 2009 at 2:29 am

Asked about the positive contribution of the Brothers, [Brother] Garvey points out: "There is a huge number of Brothers who never sexually abused or physically abused people in an unwarranted way..."

Good to know that most of the sexual and physical abuse was warranted. My mind is now at rest.

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2. Comment #436252 by Mitch Kahle on November 29, 2009 at 2:30 am

When will this end?

I'd personally like to see the United Nations expel the Vatican and then impose sanctions on the Catholic Church worldwide.

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3. Comment #436269 by Crazycharlie on November 29, 2009 at 3:24 am

"... [Brother] Garvey points out:" There is a huge number of Brothers who never sexually abused or physically abused people---IN AN UNWARRENTED WAY."

Does this guy realize what he's saying?

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4. Comment #436284 by A on November 29, 2009 at 4:26 am

Fuck these fucking fascists and their poisonous superstition.

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5. Comment #436288 by hoops mccann on November 29, 2009 at 4:44 am

I would love to see the Catholic church and all of it's spin-off orders get sued out of existence. Let their anti-sex and pro-poverty doctrines join Stalinism on the garbage heap of history. If people find their religion to be so "comforting", let them meet in rented halls like AA does.

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6. Comment #436293 by Rodger T on November 29, 2009 at 5:11 am

Unfortunately, most catholics outside of Ireland won`t even get to hear of this, even if they do ,if they don`t choose to ignore it they will blame the victims of these forced labour camps.
Most catholics are too gutless to stand up to the pathetic priests that hold their salvation in their hands.
The church most certainly won`t announce any of these findings from the pulpit.
The brainwashed masses of catholic parishoners accept without question whatever their preacher tells them. And nothing is going to change anytime soon.
We will just have to wait until the true horrors of catholic rule become exposed once the latin and south american people cast away their fear of the church like the irish.

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7. Comment #436323 by BlueCollar8theist on November 29, 2009 at 7:47 am

Comment #436293 by Rodger T

I agree completely, and very well-stated. I am afraid however, that Latin and South America will remain quiet for many, many years. These are people who have had the entirety of their modern history bent and corrupted by the rule of the catholic church. Deep, ingrained fear has turned, as it so often does, to reverance, and the abhorent treatment suffered by their ancestors is forgotten. I can only hope (although I know its too much to wish for) that their children have fared better than the Irish.

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8. Comment #436337 by AllanW on November 29, 2009 at 11:25 am

I'd like to thank the Irish nation (or more specifically two of its members) for providing me with what will henceforth be my standard retort to anyone attempting to support the Catholic Church;

"Renounce your pomp now get in the fecking sack."

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9. Comment #436343 by Animavore on November 29, 2009 at 11:59 am

"There is a huge number of Brothers who never sexually abused or physically abused people in an unwarranted way..."

I put this down to a combination of Stockholm Syndrome and a genuine fear of God.
No doubt over the coming weeks, again, as of before, we will have little articles in our newspapers written by victims of abuse calling on us (the Irish people) to forgive them for their sins for that is the way of the Lord.
Thankfully the younger generation, not subjected to the wrath of the church, have nothing but sheer contempt for the church and will dismiss these old people as misguided and naive.
I would expect to see a further decline and hope that these times of insecurity and uncertainty don't drive the fearful back into their open arms and tight grip.

EDIT: Spelling.

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10. Comment #436345 by rod-the-farmer on November 29, 2009 at 12:31 pm

In a comment on a similar article on this site I asked the question

"If you claim that there are lots of good priests who never abused any children, how are we to tell them from the bad ones ?"

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11. Comment #436350 by Max of Earlobes on November 29, 2009 at 12:58 pm

I go to a school which was established by the Christian Brothers, and although (thankfully) there are no longer any teachers at the school who are members of the order, the pompous arse of a "headmaster" sings their praises, and seems to approve of sadistic, violent brutality (which, of course, they never give the slightest mention to).

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12. Comment #436352 by rokeisland on November 29, 2009 at 1:48 pm

My upset with the Church isn't that they spread the belief in a sky fairy that holds my best interest at heart. My upset is that the Church itself doesn't hold that interest at heart. They are focused only on what THEY think is best, not in truly interpreting the scriptures. And inevitably, what they think is best is only best for themselves, not everyone else.

And it is when you get the desire to serve god mixed up with the desire for your own personal power that you get sick and twisted institutions like the Brothers. They can't seperate one from the other and the guilt that builds up inside of them because of this finds its way out in behavior that easily encompasses the Brothers.

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13. Comment #436361 by FXR on November 29, 2009 at 3:27 pm

It's referred to as a dying institution but it's not. What has been uncovered is only the tip of te iceberg. Most of it will never be revealed. While all this was coming out and in the wake of decades of abuse by these sadists in Waterford they built the Edmund Rice Centre. He's the scumbag who founded the Christian Brothers.

Whoever writed the blurb for the Centre seems to be completely cut off from reality.

http://www.edmundrice.ie/index.html

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14. Comment #436363 by FXR on November 29, 2009 at 3:30 pm

http://www.paddydoyle.com/shamed-brothers-handover-e161m-funds-to-aid-victims-of-abuse/

THE Christian Brothers are handing over €161m in cash and property in the wake of devastating Ryan report on child abuse.

The congregation said in a statement that €34m in cash will be used directly to help victims of child abuse.

The transfer of €127m in property assets will be be used to “begin to repair trust with so many people in Ireland who felt betrayed by the brothers”.

It shows assets at the end of June of €240.9m — this includes €51.7m in investment assets and €10m in bank accounts.

It is proposed to transfer 67pc of this total into independent trusts. The remain 23pc of their assets are accounted for by liabilities (€8.1m); continuation of services such as teacher education in Marino College, Dublin, (€29.7m) and the living, welfare and care of members (€22.9m). There are 250 brothers in the country with an average of 74 years — only 62 are under 65 years of age. Many of them need healthcare.
...........................

The latest proposed transfer follows last year’s handing over of schools and associated properties by the brothers to the Edmund Rice Schools Trust (ERST), an independent body. The transfer value, inclusive of funding and establishment costs, was €435m. The Christian Brothers added: “We understand and regret that nothing we say or do can turn back the clock for those affected by abuse”.

- John Walshe

Irish Independent

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15. Comment #436368 by anonbloger on November 29, 2009 at 3:51 pm

This is another case where the argument that most never abused children simply is a distraction.
Those who knew and did nothing or worse, protected the abusers by intimidating victims. The real issue is the way the hierarchy systematically facilitated and hid abuses of all types, the idea that cannon law trumps the law or the land and the bare-faced-ness to try and defend the indefensible.

http://carnifexinsania.blogspot.com/

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16. Comment #436372 by hungover on November 29, 2009 at 4:03 pm

ah but dougal if there are a million priests and lets say 1% of them abuse children thats only....eh..

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17. Comment #436374 by Drosera on November 29, 2009 at 4:11 pm

You can't maintain that the Catholic Church doesn't recognise how serious an offence child abuse is. They think it is almost as bad as desecrating a communion wafer.

By the way, how many priests and other clergy were excommunicated because they raped children? Let me guess: not one.

Edit: replaced 'host' with 'communion wafer'

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18. Comment #436398 by Stafford Gordon on November 29, 2009 at 5:22 pm

Celibacy is unnatural; nature cannot be fooled; it always prevails; ergo, children are raped.

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19. Comment #436407 by ChicagoMolly on November 29, 2009 at 5:56 pm

I went to Catholic elementary school here in Chicago. The Old Man decided that after all the money he'd spent on tuition and uniforms for the four of us kids we were Catholic enough and we could go to public high school like normal people (our tax dollars at work). Some of the boys from our parish went on to Brother Rice High, which was run by the Christian Brothers of Ireland. It wasn't a boarding school, but from what I understand the Brothers made as much use of their training in Ireland as they could get away with. [whispered aside: I was on the point of saying 'the Old Sod' instead of 'Ireland' but realized the phrase takes on rather a different spin in this context!] Anyway, there was a kind of Irish macho attitude among guys who had gone to Rice. They actually bragged about getting beaten by their teachers. 'The Brothers don't take shit from you. You don't do your work, they'll give you a good clout upside the head. And it did us all a lot of good!' I suppose we shouldn't be surprised by talk like that, knowing what we do now about both the Stockholm Syndrome and cumulative brain damage.

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20. Comment #436420 by blakjack on November 29, 2009 at 6:27 pm

In our village we have a “Wine Circle”. What a wonderful name for a boozing club! Apparently before I moved into the village, there was an offshoot “Wife Swopping Group” - I missed the fun.

Anyway, some of the members of the circle are active Catholics. My conscience tells me that I should raise the matter of their church’s abuses. But there is still this strange concern that it would be considered impolite. Maybe I should “naively” pretend that I don’t know they are Catholics and simply have a good rant.

Any suggestions - at a practical, personal level - to how we make our revulsion clear about the Catholic catalogue of abuse?

Jack

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21. Comment #436475 by Cernunnos on November 29, 2009 at 7:43 pm

Comment #436293 by Rodger T:

"Unfortunately, most catholics outside of Ireland won`t even get to hear of this, even if they do ,if they don`t choose to ignore it they will blame the victims of these forced labour camps."

I'm doing my best to hammer it into assorted Latin Americans in my network on Facebook :-)

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22. Comment #436530 by donttellhimpike on November 29, 2009 at 9:14 pm

Does anyone know if there are any demonstrations being organised for the arrival of the fairy king, Joey Nazinger, in London next year? I'd like the opportunity to voice my support for those who have suffered (and who continue to suffer) from his organisation's evil.

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23. Comment #436552 by kev_s on November 29, 2009 at 9:50 pm

@ChicagoMolly Reminds me of a cartoon by Ronald Searle in 'Down With Skool' ... there is this ugly, bald bruiser of a teacher with a boxer's nose who says, "When I was boy, they gave us six of the best every day. Made me what I am".
When I was a kid I laughed at that but it doesn't seem funny any more.

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24. Comment #436555 by David Blackwell on November 29, 2009 at 9:56 pm

And indeed the pope should personally apologize, as the victims' supporters are demanding that he do. Joseph Ratzinger should have been on a plane before this, Vatican documents previously requested but denied the investigators in hand, and, upon arrival in Ireland, in sackcloth, with head shaved, prostrate himself on the ground before the surviving victims and their families, begging their forgiveness.

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25. Comment #436568 by Logicel on November 29, 2009 at 10:22 pm

blakjack: hmmm, think booze and religious discussions are a no-no.

However, if you are the steely type, you could invite a few of the Catolicks over to your place for tea or something else, and then honestly and calmly ask them what is their take on the scandals. If they show themselves as being unethical ostriches, then you can tell them that gives you a bad taste in your mouth, sort of upsetting the wine taste buds so to speak, and you won't be attending their little booze fests any longer until they take their ostrich heads out of the mud. You can start your own wine-tasting group instead.

Since you know some are catholic, it would be dishonest to rant, pretending you did not.

Feel free to disregard this. Only you can decide what to do.

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26. Comment #436577 by Sigmund on November 29, 2009 at 10:48 pm

I went to a christian brothers school in Ireland at the primary level. This was, I would guess, a completely typical Irish primary school of its time (late 1970s, in the Irish midlands). Corporal punishment was in order (I certainly experienced getting hit by 'the leather' - a particular specialty of the christian brothers - although it was the non religious order members of staff that were the most violent in my limited experience. There were also known sexual predators employed by the school. One went too far and got caught - or at least informed on. He simply disappeared one day from school, never to be seen again. We never heard anything about trials or court cases or even prosecution. And this guy wasn't even in holy orders! One can only imagine (not that one needs to having seen these reports) how leniently they treated their own.
I remember a rather telling remark about the christian brothers that came from a rather unlikely source - a priest who was employed by my secondary school as a religious instruction teacher. He warned the class about joining the christian brothers, telling us that they took in boys at far too young an age to train for their religious vocation. Even at the age of 13 or 14 I could read between the lines and realized that he was suggesting that this particular holy order system was abusive.

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27. Comment #436811 by keddaw on November 30, 2009 at 10:57 am

"..there are plenty of good priests who never abused children..."

1. So that's how high you set the bar?

2. No, there weren't. All priests are tarred by this. The priests who ignored the pleas of abused children, who turned a blind eye, who knew/suspected what was going but allowed the cover up at higher levels, all of this means there is not one clean priest.

On another level, what idiot made the decision that sweeping this under the carpet was the best solution for the Catholic Church. This was always going to come out and hiding it was going to backfire big style, how did they not see that?

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28. Comment #436844 by Tyler Durden on November 30, 2009 at 11:51 am

Comment #436811 by keddaw

This was always going to come out and hiding it was going to backfire big style, how did they not see that?

Never underestimate the gullibility of the average theist.

The evening news on RTE (Irish state broadcaster) yesterday had a vox pop of parishioners with regard to the Murphy Report on whether the Bishops mentioned within the report should resign - most of the parishioners said yes, but voiced this opinion on the way out of mass on a Sunday.

Oh, the irony!

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29. Comment #436860 by Ignorant Amos on November 30, 2009 at 12:21 pm

Keogh disagrees. "I don't think there was anything in the theology which made abuse OK. The problems were in the structures," he says. Self-flagellation was a universal idea in the Catholic tradition until the early part of the last century. "To make the jump between that and abusing children is oversimplistic and a misunderstanding of the theology," he argues. "The whole Christian Brother phenomenon was of its time. They mirrored society rather than moulded it."

Can you believe these fucking people...????

It was of its time so we shouldn't look to harshly at the whole sorry state of affairs.

The Brothers mirrored society!!!! I don't bloody think so. Society wasn't rife with boys getting beaten and buggered except in these type of institutions and this sort of attitude is what's making the whole affair stink all the more. Why can't the apologists just hold there hands up and fess to the crime. The cookie jar lid has closed and your fingers have been caught good and proper...weaseling toerags.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/9918669/The_latest_child_abuse_scandal_is_as_Irish_as_it_is_Catholic/

Let's not forget that the RC church doesn't hold all the rights to the "buggering young boys" title. The protestants can wipe the smirk of their bakes.

http://www.missingpersons-ireland.freepress-freespeech.com/lindsayBrownpaedophile.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kincora_Boys'_Home

Along with allegations that the Royal Ulster Constabulary did the same thing as the Garda Síochána na hÉireann.

Religion Poisons Everything

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30. Comment #436874 by Ignorant Amos on November 30, 2009 at 12:45 pm

The Brothers rejected the non-denominational schools system established by the British in 1831 and ran their schools independently. This, Keogh says, was fundamental in forging their uncompromising curriculum, which included an explicitly Catholic and patriotic emphasis, which shaped Ireland's national identity

and then he says....

did the Brothers shape it or mirror it???

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31. Comment #436888 by hungarianelephant on November 30, 2009 at 12:58 pm

28. Comment #436844 by Tyler Durden

Never underestimate the gullibility of the average theist.

The evening news on RTE (Irish state broadcaster) yesterday had a vox pop of parishioners with regard to the Murphy Report on whether the Bishops mentioned within the report should resign - most of the parishioners said yes, but voiced this opinion on the way out of mass on a Sunday.

I saw that too. Really extraordinary. If they had gone just in order to voice their disapproval, I could have understood it (I have done the same at a Fianna Fail meeting). Somehow I doubt it.

One of the most depressing aspects of all of this is that much of what was going on is, and always was, completely illegal. Take the Magdalene laundries. By what authority can you lock up adult women who have committed no crime? Absolutely none. All that was needed was for someone to turn up in front of a judge, ask for a writ of habeas corpus, and the whole thing was finished. Nobody did. The women were left there until they had been worked to death. So whose fault is it that the laundries were still around as late as the 1990s?

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32. Comment #436972 by Tintern on November 30, 2009 at 4:49 pm

A good article and a million points to be made, and well made by other commentators here. However, one point to note is the notion that the order was generally unsupervised. It falls a bit short in description. The Irish State literally abdicated its responsibility for education and handed the task over, lock, stock and barrel to the religious orders.
A side point about Eamon De Valera, the old hero of the Irish state. His legacy is not freedom; his legacy is the foundation of the Irish political philosophy - power at any cost.

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33. Comment #437015 by Old Coyote on November 30, 2009 at 7:19 pm

These jackoffs had a reach far beyond Ireland. They were responsible for the biggest child abuse/molestation case in Canadian History: Mount Cashel Orphanage in Newfoundland. I hate to paint with such broad strokes but Catholics need to wake up to the fact that these aren't isolated incidents but evidence of a widespread institutional sickness.

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34. Comment #437031 by FXR on November 30, 2009 at 8:55 pm

If anyone wants to do something about this email me at dubusa@hotmail.com. I'm talking legal and peaceful but nonetheless devasting. It's at the planning stages but a lot of people all across the globe will be needed. Herr Ratzinges visit to London would be perfect.

PS: the Christian Brothers as an organisation is still growing worldwide. So is the mothership in Rome.

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35. Comment #437266 by brainsys on December 1, 2009 at 11:26 am

Of course the Christian Brothers abuse has now come to haunt the new Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols.

How can one trust a man who denies the documented abuse by the CB at his Liverpool school while he was a pupil? It seems difficult to believe he would deliberately lie about this. It is more likely his viewpoint was such that this abuse was 'invisible'. That's more terrifying when he is now responsible for dealing with any new reports of similar abuse.

I gather he was a bit difficult in dealing with abuse in his previous Birmingham Bishopric according to the Guardian but what I read was a bit unspecific. Does anybody have more?

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36. Comment #437270 by lee1302 on December 1, 2009 at 11:39 am

As Father Ted said, "If there's 200 million priests worlwide, and 5% of them are paedophiles, that's only 10 million priests."

I think the figures speak for themselves!!

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