Dublin, Ireland, May 27, 2009 / 01:11 am
Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has addressed the recent report on physical and sexual abuse in Irish institutions, saying that the Church in Ireland must move out of “denial” and must never “water down” the suffering of abuse survivors. He warned that culpable religious orders face their “last chance” to renew their charism.
Writing Monday in an opinion essay in the Irish Times, the archbishop addressed the recently released Ryan report which exposed major abuse of students in industrial schools.
Noting the ineffectiveness of simple apologies, Archbishop Martin said that nonetheless “sorry” must “always be the first word.”
He said the Ryan report shocked him, but did not surprise him. The archbishop explained that as a student he had worked in a Dublin hostel for former industrial school residents. Later he had worked in a London center for ex-prisoners, many of whom had been Irish industrial school residents.
“Anyone who had contact with ex-residents of Irish industrial schools at that time knew that what those schools were offering was, to put it mildly, poor-quality childcare by the standards of the time. The information was there,” Archbishop Martin wrote in the Irish Times, noting that a clergyman and some journalists had tried to call attention to the abuse.