NEWS > EVERYONE ELSE > THOUSANDS GO UNRAPED AND UNABUSED IN IRISH CATHOLIC SCHOOLS

THOUSANDS GO UNRAPED AND UNABUSED IN IRISH CATHOLIC SCHOOLS

June 7 2009

Dublin, Ireland – As time passes the number of cases of sexual abuse by priests seems only to increase. With reports of abuses from virtually every country in the world, abuse stories have long plagued the church and shaken a great many people’s faith in the institutions of religion. Speculation has raged for decades as to the cause
of such abuse cases and what can be done to prevent it from happening in the future, but as more and more cases continue to appear, some are concerned that the church will be burdened with abuse for years to come.

A recent report has shown a systemic abuse throughout Ireland from the 1930’s to the 1980’s that resulted in thousands of boys and girls being raped an exploited. The 2600 page report is the most thorough in the history of the Catholic abuse saga and reveals for many the depth of the problems. In this predominately Catholic country though, many people are surprised at how few people have been directly affected by the abuse with thousands of children going un-raped throughout their Catholic upbringing.

“A climate of fear, created by pervasive, excessive and arbitrary punishment, permeated most of the institutions and all those run for boys. Children lived with the
daily terror of not knowing where the next beating was coming from,” read the report. “In some schools a high level of ritualised beating was routine ... Girls were struck with implements designed to maximise pain and were struck on all parts of the body.”

The precise numbers of children who have passed through the system unmolested have not been made public but it is expected that the number could be in tens of thousands.

“I passed through the Catholic school system and I received no such treatment,” said Martin Carter. “I went to one of the schools mentioned in this report and while I did receive the occasional rap on the knuckles, I was never touched or raped in anyway. To some degree I feel kind of left out.”

It’s not yet clear what kind of compensation the victims might receive, or what kind of efforts will be made to include those not abused.

“Catholic guilt is a very strong thing and really a source of pride. Add to that the fact that they are Irish and you have generations of children who are unable to wallow in the same depths of misery as their fellows and that can be a very traumatic thing. Particularly in Ireland it can almost seem like you don’t even belong in the country anymore,” said Scrape TV Religion analyst Bertram Gas. “I doubt that they will force those who haven’t been abused out of the country but I do think they need to start looking at putting resources into depression counselling. The Irish people haven’t done much to treat depression or even acknowledge that it occurs, but this might be the time to start before there is a national crisis.”

There are reportedly four depression councillors in the country which is home to over 4 million people, three of which suffer from serious depression themselves largely due to  lack of work.

“The Irish people have long taken on the suffering of mankind to themselves and this
will be no different. It would have been a lot easier for many people if they had simply been molested themselves but such is the lot in life for the Irish. Even bad things not happening to them is a burden,” continued Gas. “I doubt that the Catholic Church will take that into account when deciding what to do in Ireland. It simply wouldn’t do them any good to start encouraging abuse no matter how positive a result it might have for th people.”

Reports of thousands of Irish molesting themselves after hearing of the report are apparently unfounded.

Emil Uliya, International Correspondent

NEWS > EVERYONE ELSE > THOUSANDS GO UNRAPED AND UNABUSED IN IRISH CATHOLIC SCHOOLS