Easter is a time for Spiritan priests to reflect on the adequacy of their response to child sex abuse

Easter is the most important time in the Catholic church year. It is a time for hope and renewal, for spiritual reflection and contemplation of the sacrifice and suffering of Jesus and the profound meaning of his resurrection.

For the Spiritan priests in Ireland, Easter will be a typically busy time between vigils, masses, retreats and other ceremonies. At the centre of all these ceremonies and sermons will be the words of Jesus and core Christian values such as compassion, justice, humility, contrition, repentance and atonement.

The Spiritan priests will emphasise to their congregations that in order to do God’s will, Christians must not just profess those values but must live them daily in everything they do.

Restore Together is an advocacy and support group for victims/ survivors of child sexual abuse in Spiritan schools. Some of our group have suffered abuse. Those that have not are supporting those that have been abused, whether or not they have even come forward yet, because they need and deserve support and all of us want the Spiritans to do the right thing without further delay.

Ours is a non-denominational group and does not advance a doctrinal agenda. Nonetheless, having advocated with the Spiritans for many years on behalf of everyone who was abused, we do wonder where we as victims/ survivors fit into the Spiritans’ practice of the core Christian values that they preach.

the context

These are not abstract questions or musings. The backdrop is that for many years, decades in some cases, we as victim/survivors have been reaching out to the Spiritans for justice.

Over the past few years, in consultation with us in Restore Together, the Spiritans have publicly committed to a comprehensive six-point Restorative Programme which aims to bring some measure of justice and practical help to victim/survivors. It is of course long overdue, but it is nonetheless welcome.

Comprehensive and urgent delivery of the Restorative Programme would bring a measure of justice to victim/survivors. The problem now, however, is that the Spiritans still haven’t delivered on the Restorative Programme with the urgency required. We as victim/survivors are, once again, still left waiting for justice, as we have been since we were children.

While two pillars of the Restorative Programme, Therapy/counselling and a Restorative Justice process, are up and running and available to those who wish to avail of them, the next two vital pillars of the programme, a comprehensive, victim-centred Redress Scheme and a Testimony Gathering (truth-telling) project have still not been delivered and the Spiritans have made no commitment to a start date for either. This is completely unacceptable to victim/survivors, most of us are over 60, who have already waited far too long for justice.

Urgent delivery is vital for the success of these Redress and Testimony programmes. They will take time to deliver, years in fact, so they must start immediately. It is already too late for many victim/survivors. Remaining victim/survivors are suffering for every day the redress scheme in particular is delayed. Restore Together has made this point repeatedly to the Spiritans over the the past two years.

the sin

Can there be a more profound sin than the sin of sexual abuse perpetrated against a defenceless child, particularly by a priest/ religious person?

We in Restore Together hear from victim/survivors of abuse in Spiritan schools on a daily basis. We hear of their heartbreaking experiences as children and their suffering through their adult lives. We hear of the damage caused by their abuse. Damage to themselves and their families.

Most victim/survivors are advanced in age. A constant refrain is that victim/survivors are tired. We are tired of being ignored and marginalised. We are tired of feeling betrayed and abandoned by institutions that were supposed to protect and care for us as children. We are tired of having to fight and push the Spiritans every step of the way to fully and comprehensively face up to the issue of child sex abuse in their schools and “do the right thing”. We are tired of being told we will have to wait. From a victim/survivor perspective the historic power imbalance that we as victim/survivors experienced as children and which facilitated our abuse is still present and underpinning the current situation. This compounds the suffering of victim/survivors and has to be ended for once and for all. The Spiritans must take all immediate steps to bring justice to victim/survivors without having to be pushed every step of the way to do so.

The call to reflect

This Easter, in the spirit of reflection, renewal and hope, victim/survivors of sexual abuse in Spiritan schools would like the Spiritan order and, in particular, every individual Spiritan priest  to hear the voices of victim/survivors and reflect on the adequacy of the Spiritan response to the issue of child sex abuse. In hearing that call, Spiritan priests should consider whether their own individual response and that of their congregation has been informed by and lived the core Christian values of compassion, justice, humility, repentance, contrition and atonement.

In particular, Spiritan priests might reflect on the extent to which they, as individual priests and the Order to which they belong, have;

Shown true compassion to the victim/survivors which requires Christians to put others first in their thoughts, words and deeds

brought Christian justice to victim/survivors

Shown true humility in their response to victim/survivors

truly repented for the sin of child sex abuse, by adopting a new way of thinking about their sin and those hurt by it, by bringing a new, victim-centred, not self-centred, way of thinking to the issue and their response to victim/survivors.

shown true contrition at the deep level of heart and manifested this through their actions. 

truly made atonement for the enormous harm caused by the sin of child sexual abuse, by responding adequately and comprehensively to victim/survivors and making amends to the greatest extent they can for that sin.

The common thread of each of these Christian values when applied to the response to the issue of child sexual abuse in Spiritan schools is that they require putting the interests of victim/survivors first in every thought, word and deed. If that is done, the Christian and just response to the issue reveals itself and all perceived obstacles to a comprehensive response will be removed.

The victim/survivor experience of the lived values

In recent times, as the Spiritans have finally confronted and admitted to the abuse, we as victim/survivors have been given kind words, sympathy and promises, many of which remain unfulfilled. Victim/survivors have, however, never seen evidence of a fundamental shift in mindset by the Spiritans as envisaged by the concept of Christian repentance. We have not seen a sustained, uncompromising and relentless determination to do everything possible to help them and bring them true Christian justice for the terrible harm they have suffered and continue to suffer.

Our experience is that the Spiritans have failed at every stage, from the time of the abuse onwards, to put the interests and rights of victim/survivors first. The Spiritans have invariably put their interests, needs and concerns and those of the institution first.

The victim/survivor experience is not one of compassion from the Spiritans. Victim/survivors feel frustrated, disappointed, angry and worse. The ongoing delay in implementing the comprehensive Restorative Programme has increased the suffering of  victim/survivors in many ways. It is not compassionate, it is cruel.

is the Spiritan response to  victim/survivors one of compassion and true Christian justice?

Repeated institutional failure to respond appropriately, both at the time of abuse and afterwards is not just. It is profoundly unjust. It perpetuates and amplifies the enormous harm done to the victims of abuse as children. Decades after the initial abuse, victim/survivors are reminded daily that the power imbalance which terrorised them as children is still being exercised over them every day.  The Spiritans, by their failure to respond adequately and comprehensively, are telling the adult victim/survivor, and the little child he carries within him, to wait over in the corner, the Spiritans will dispense justice of their choosing at the time of their choosing. The Spiritans are telling the victim/survivor that their organisational interests and operational difficulties are more important than him, his experience and his current needs.  

All sorts of reasons are trotted out as to why things can’t be done quicker or differently, as if they are circumstances and difficulties beyond the control of the Spiritans rather than the result of conscious and deliberate choices by the Spiritans which could have been long overcome by now if there had been a will to do so. How can this be considered to be a compassionate response bringing true Christian justice?

In his book, “Jesus, Social Revolutionary”, Fr Peter McVerry talks about how the parable of the Good Samaritan illustrates the central importance of compassion for Christians. He stresses however, that it is much more than just a story about being kind to someone who needs help. He points out that the parable is told in response to a very specific question put to Jesus of what a person “must do to inherit eternal life”. The lesson of the parable is that the one thing that is most important to God above everything else is compassion. Denial of compassion is denial of God himself.

But there is, of course, more to the story. Fr McVerry explores this and asks, “Why does Luke pick a priest and a Levite as the two characters to pass by?  Were they just the first two role models that came into his head? Hardly. Luke composes his stories very carefully. Luke chooses the priest and the Levite precisely because they observed the Law. They considered themselves righteous and were looked up to by the rest of society as righteous precisely because of their observance of the Law. They were considered close to God, friends of God, in God’s favour. But for Jesus, there was no place for them in the Kingdom of God because they failed in compassion”

responding according to the teaching of Jesus; a gospel-based approach

Guidance for Spiritans as to what they must do to adequately address the issue of child sexual abuse in their schools is not just set out in the bible. Towards Peace is a church-funded spiritual support service to survivors of clerical sexual abuse. In 2022 they prepared a comprehensive paper pointing out the failures of the clerical institutions’ traditional approach to the issue of child sexual abuse and setting out Gospel-based principles for clerical institutions to take a new approach to responding  to clerical sexual abuse and to victim/survivors.

The submission opens with a call to the Church to hear “the prophetic voice of survivors” so as to “renew the Church that failed to protect children and continues to fail survivors”.

Its central message to religious institutions is that they must adopt a “gospel-based approach to dealing with abuse within the Church”.  

To do this will require the institutions “setting aside considerations such as the reputation of the institution, money and financial assets, and status and power, in order to encounter survivors at a human level and respond to them as Jesus responded to those he met in the course of his ministry”.

The submission references the past, failed and inadequate responses to abuse, characterised by “the willingness of Church officials to sacrifice survivors for what they considered to be the good of the Church”. It asserts that a “humbler Church, and one less pre-occupied with its financial assets, might be better placed to respond appropriately to those who disclose abuse”.

In conclusion, it pointed out that Jesus reached out to those “on the margins”. “The Church must do the same and invite those who have been abused to come forward and tell their stories”

In summary, “Church leaders must make different choices. When faced with an allegation, they must refer, in the first instance, to the gospel, not the lawyers”.

 The Church must also “atone for the sins of abuse…... Words that are carefully chosen and spoken with sincerity and humility help, but they are not enough. They have to be accompanied by actions to repair the damage done.”

“There must be a commitment to truth, accountability and transparency in relation to the issue of abuse and how it is dealt with in the Church”

urgent and immediate completion of the Restorative Programme

Restore Together recently called on the Spiritans to finalise the Redress Scheme without further delay and have it up and running no later than 1 June this year. The Spiritans have not responded to this call. We in Restore Together have been more than patient. Restore Together has been in discussions with the Spiritans and their lawyers about the terms of a redress scheme for over two years and are more than satisfied that the Spiritans have the financial means to start it straight away, if they had the will to do so.

What can the Spiritans learn from the parable of Zaccheus? Zaccheus was a sinner and tax-collector who heard Jesus and was moved to find the appropriate response to his sins. Zaccheus did not have to be dragged or forced to make amends. He did not have to consult extensively with his lawyers and other advisers before deciding what to do. The initiative and drive to make amends came from Zaccheus himself. “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

As [one commentator has noted] “Zaccheus felt that the possession of so much wealth, and the power that went with it, was in itself part of the problem that had corrupted him.

Zaccheus act of generosity goes further than just monetary restoration, it helps to restore the relational damage between him and the person he has sinned against, and then further, restoring the self-esteem of the victim, and further still, giving in excess, for the joy of giving and of receiving.

Any redress scheme in a church context that seeks to minimise reparations due, or to preserve the wealth of the offender, will be missing this vital element of excessive, joyful generosity. The church should approach the business of redress with joy and open-handed generosity. And if there are margins of error, they must fall to the benefit of the victim. “

In their recent statement on their response to child sexual abuse in their schools, the Jesuits recognised that they had failed to “respond adequately”.

Restore Together acknowledges that the Spiritans have not completely failed to respond to the issue of child sex abuse in their schools or to victim/survivors. The crucial point, however, is that they have failed to do so adequately and appropriately, at every stage from when the child sex abuse was first happening, to the different times when it was reported, and right up to today and the delays in implementing the Restorative Programme.

 From a victim/survivor perspective, the failures of the Spiritans are essentially failures of understanding and a failure of will. At every stage, the Spiritans’ first thought has been of themselves. They have never consistently put the interests and needs of  victim/survivors ahead of their own. Those most fundamental failings have in turn led to their failure to think of victim/survivors first, consistently speak out in humility and support for victim/survivors and adequately respond to the scourge of child sex abuse in their schools and the needs of  victim/survivors.

living the Gospel and teaching of Jesus

Again from a victim/survivor perspective, the Spiritans’ failure to show true compassion to  victim/survivors and bring them Christian justice has implications for Spiritan mission and moral authority. How can the Spiritans preach the values of compassion, justice and humility to others until/unless they have practised them in relation to victim/survivors?

Of course, this may not be easy for Spiritans. But that is not the point. Living with the experience of having been abused is extremely difficult for victim/survivors. Surely, the true test of our Christianity and our human values does not arise when things are easy, but when they are hard. The Spiritans are being tested now. We as victim/survivors would like them to reflect deeply on how they are doing in that test.

When the Apostles were tested after Jesus’ crucifixion and Ascension, they were in hiding and afraid. It was the Holy Spirit that descended upon them to give them courage to go out proclaim the teachings of Jesus again.

For years now, victim/survivors have been calling on the Spiritans to find that courage and compassion within themselves and urgently and comprehensively address the issue of child sex abuse. If the Spiritans can truly put the victim/survivors at the centre of their thoughts and put their interests ahead of their own, they will find that they are quickly able to find a way past any perceived obstacles to implement all elements of the Restorative Programme and help in some way victim/survivors’ ongoing recovery from the terrible harm inflicted on them as children.

Easter would be perfect time for the Spiritans to urgently reflect, renew and finally and urgently bring justice to victim/survivors of abuse in their schools.

ENDS

About Restore Together

Restore Together is an advocacy group for victims of sexual abuse in Spiritan schools. It is made up of victim/survivors and non-victims. Together we advocate on behalf of victim/survivors for the provision of structures to aid healing from trauma. So far it has supported over 300 victims/ survivors of sexual abuse suffered while attending Spiritan schools.

Restore Together is working with the Spiritan Order to bring healing to those who suffered as children and continue to suffer as adults through a professionally guided and administered programme of Restorative Justice.

Restore Together’s objectives for all victim/survivors are: TRUTH – JUSTICE – PEACE – RECONCILIATION – HEALING.

The Spiritan schools involved are Blackrock College and Willow Park, Rockwell College, St. Mary’s College, St. Michael’s College and Templeogue College.