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Boys Town founder Fr. Flanagan warned Irish Church about abuse in 1940s

JOHN FAY,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Tuesday, October 5, 2010, 2:15 PM

Updated Tuesday, October 5, 2010, 2:31 PM

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Father Flanagan reading to some boys

However, his words fell on stony ground. He wasn't simply ignored. He was taken to pieces by the Irish establishment. The then-Minister for Justice Gerald Bolandsaid in the Dáil that he was “not disposed to take any notice of what Monsignor Flanagan said while he was in this country, because his statements were so exaggerated that I did not think people would attach any importance to them.”

Fr. Flanagan was a devout Catholic, a man who Catholics and non-Catholics world-wide had deemed a hero. He was the Mother Theresa of his day.

Despite that, the Irish Church and the Irish authorities felt comfortable ignoring Fr. Flanagan, ignoring the fact that he was considered to be an expert in the matter of providing for the education and upbringing of boys who were otherwise considered to be “lost causes.”

When he arrived back in America Fr. Flanagan said: "What you need over there is to have someone shake you loose from your smugness and satisfaction and set an example by punishing those who are guilty of cruelty, ignorance and neglect of their duties in high places . . . I wonder what God's judgment will be with reference to those who hold the deposit of faith and who fail in their God-given stewardship of little children."

Again, his efforts fell on stony ground.

What was it about the Irish Church and the Irish authorities that made them so insular that they felt comfortable dismissing someone of Fr. Flanagan's stature? Despite the fact that Fr. Flanagan was a popular hero to many Irish people, his words had no sway with those in authority, whether in the government or the Church.

And, once those who endorsed the industrial school model survived Fr. Flanagan's broadsides, they must have known that no one would challenge them again. They were right, for 50 years anyway.

Not since the penal times has the Catholic Church been so threatened in Ireland. Only this time the damage is all self-inflicted and not imposed by an outside force. Unless strong Catholic characters arise from the wreckage we have now, the Church in Ireland is doomed.

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MaryM232 | Oct 10, 2010, 09:43 AM EDT

But Mr. Fay, you yourself and your fellows here at Irish Central, are still sick and twisted with that smugness and self satisfaction that Ireland was and still is afflicted with. You don't really care about the abused children of Ireland in the past or the present. You merely seek to use Fr. Flanagan's legitimate concerns to make your tabloid article sensational, to wag your finger. I've come to realize that perhaps that Ireland is a disease itself. It stews in it's sense of entitlement, caring nothing about anyone or anything other than it's personal desires. Ireland does nothing good for anyone, even at the height of it's so called Celtic Tiger, Ireland played the welfare queen. You and your fellow diseased, lie and slander poor and suffering American citizens, so as to rationalize illegal Irish and other aliens, because you are too cowardly and selfish to address the fact that you don't care about US citizens being displaced and harmed by illegal aliens. Ireland has never nobled itself, it's greedy and grasping, there isn't one achievement you can name in Ireland's behalf. That nation has cursed itself to irrelevancy, and it couldn't disappear fast enough to suit me.

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2BorNot2B | Oct 08, 2010, 11:42 PM EDT

Correction to post below -- Shoud read:He told His followers...

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2BorNot2B | Oct 08, 2010, 11:39 PM EDT

(Devil's) Advocate is a tireless ranter for the purported procreative 'rights' denied to priests and nuns when neither category seems to be unhappy or as biblically legalistic as this self-anointed advocate. -- But in fact this advocate is totally WRONG on his reading of the bible since neither the founder of Christianity, Jesus the Lord, was married, nor were several of his principal followers, His followers that those who are capable of taking on the celibacy discipline, or 'become eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom of God,' (clearly implying 'those who forgo sexual relations in order to serve God'), are perfectly OK in doing so. --- Further, Paul also enjoins his followers to do as he himself does and remain unmarried, because doing so liberates them of domestic and family concerns and freeing them to dedicate themselves more fully to serving God. The references to celibacy are clear, therefore the Advocado's words are nothing more than the useless noise of a cymbal's clashing. -- As for the Yahweh reference, what century is this legalistic drone coming from, where in the bible does it say that we should refer to God by that name? And how many of the apostles do we see berating their followers for not doing so? -- This is nothing more than proddy latter day useless punctiliousness.

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WeWantJustice | Oct 08, 2010, 01:18 PM EDT

There was also a Private Report on Artane Industrial School commissioned by Archbishop John Charles Mcquaid, Archbishop of Dublin and primate of Ireland in 1962. This report was held under wraps by the Department of Education for 45 years and was only made public on the 18th of August 2007 by the current Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin. So much suffering could have been avoided?

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Advocate | Oct 07, 2010, 10:20 AM EDT

A great man. Sad so few followed his ideals. Yes, the RCC is falling, by self-inflicted wounds. No where in Scripture are we told a man or woman should not marry, enjoy children of their own and marital intercourse. This is Yahweh's created/give 'Human Nature'; and for some man-made church doctrine against said 'human nature' said doctine must fail! Many a priest and nun has been deprived of their being as Yahweh made them because of this bad, un-natural policy of man not found in Scripture! Sad, but true! The RCC has also recently banished the use of His actual Name (YHVH/Yahweh), while Scriture state: "My Name shall be revealed to My people in those days..." How sad!

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POWERSED | Oct 07, 2010, 05:23 AM EDT

No surprise to me as I was a pupil at one of the schools run by the said organsation.

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TheYank | Oct 07, 2010, 04:58 AM EDT

andrew49,

That is tremendous stuff. I didn't know all that. Thank you.

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PolinDeB | Oct 06, 2010, 08:03 PM EDT

@mrkennedy I have never molested a child... where should i send the stone? ;) Even the church admits there are venal and mortal sins.. Let this be the last time we let the catholic church and those in ireland who deny children their childhood sweep this aside. When you have to tell an English girl the reason her Irish grandmother cleaned her up after being raped at 7 by her uncle and then denied it until her death bed... you may understand.... ps.. the answer is respectability. Riamh aris.. Never again. And if we have to take the pope down for this.. so be it. He's either part of the problem or part of the solution, it's his choice.

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PolinDeB | Oct 06, 2010, 07:52 PM EDT

Same ole stuff now.. how did we get such gits in power...

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andrew49 | Oct 06, 2010, 04:57 PM EDT

In 1946 Father Flanagan toured Ireland to discuss his childcare philosophy, and to learn more about the Irish industrial schools system. Prior to his tour he had been in correspondence with former residents of the industrial schools, concerned citizens of Ireland, and members of the Irish government. Through personal visits to Irish prisons and industrial schools Father Flanagan discovered a juvenile care system he declared to be "a disgrace to the nation". He stated publicly his concern for the child inmates of the industrial schools during his tour. The Girls and Boys Town Hall of History Archives contain an extensive collection of primary documentation dealing with Father Flanagan's 1946 tour of Ireland. A newspaper clipping describes his presentation at the Savoy Cinema in Cork. Father Flanagan encouraged the audience to keep their children, and the children in their communities, away from the industrial schools. In private conversations he questioned the administrators of the industrial schools about the conditions in their schools. In a December 1946 letter to Irish Envoy Robert Brennan, Father Flanagan wrote: "During my visit to Ireland, I was outspoken in my views regarding the treatment of prisoners, particularly those of tender age, and on no occasion were my statements challenged by anyone in a position of authority." Father Flanagan wrote that he discovered people in Ireland unwilling to discuss or investigate the conditions in their industrial schools. He felt they feared some form of reprisal if they were to speak or report openly about the Irish juvenile care system. Father Flanagan was not done with his campaign to reform the Irish system. In 1948 he planned to conduct a full-scale, State-wide investigation into Irish juvenile care. His untimely death on May 15th, 1948 ended his work to aid the children of Ireland. He was a great man.

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andrew49 | Oct 06, 2010, 04:41 PM EDT

If people in the Republic of Ireland had acted like Fr. Flanagan asked them to there would have been no need for a Ryan Report. Thousands upon thousands of Irish children's lives would not have been blighted by horrendous abuse. in 2004 an Irish lecturer was writing a history of the Christian Brothers and, in my opinion, attempted to blacken the name of Fr. Flanagan by writing, in the irish Times no less, that Fr. Flanagan was in no way concerned about the treatment of children in the Industrial Schools. I wrote to Boystown for a comment and this was the reply I got: Dear [andrew49], Thank you for the information on the recent discussion dealing with Father Flanagan's 1946 tour of Ireland. Father Flanagan on his tour of Ireland planned to review both the adult prisons, and the childcare system of Ireland. In a letter dated April 1946 Father Flanagan wrote to a fellow priest with contacts in Ireland seeking detailed information on the Irish penal system, especially as it applied to "young offenders." Father also sought to meet with the leader of the Dail, and had already scheduled a meeting with Prime Minister De Valera. He wished to discuss with them the concept of creating a Boys Town in Ireland, and also he wished to discuss the state of the Irish childcare system. Father writes the system operated by the Christian Brothers was not working. Our current Boys Town Director Father Val Peter has written a letter to the Irish Times challenging the original article. Also I have been working with Mary Rafferty to answer the original article. Several members of the Boys Town Ballymoe association are also planning on writing letters discussing Father's 1946 mission to aid the children of Ireland. If you should need any further information please let me know. Sincerely, Tom Lynch. Thomas J. Lynch Manager Hall of History & Father Flanagan House 14057 Flanagan Blvd. Boys Town, Nebraska 68010

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barneyjo | Oct 06, 2010, 04:15 PM EDT

I should have also added earlier, that I rejoice and take great heart from the strength, conviction and determination of survivors of abuse, particularly those who find the strength to waive their right to anonimity to tell a one time unbelieving world what happened to them. Many of those profess no faith, but I have no doubt that God walks with them, and they are blessed!!

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CitizenWhy | Oct 06, 2010, 03:53 PM EDT

One of my aunts in the West of Ireland got pregnant long ago "out of wedlock," as they used to say. There was never any thought of not keeping the child and the family fully intended to support her and the child. The only argument was over her dowry, since her lover was poor and landless and could not afford to "buy into" a farm, as she could afford, some did not want to give the couple the money she would have gotten if she married someone who also brought money in. The younger children rallied relentlessly to her support and the family gave her her dowry, which she used to buy land in Australia, where the couple flourished. ... How could any Irish family disown a daughter and condemn her or her child to those miserable church institutions?

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barneyjo | Oct 06, 2010, 03:49 PM EDT

Anybody who doesnt see the hand of God in these Revelations about the Catholic Church; more than that, about earthbound Religious institutions in general is in a very sad place. 2B says that the church will survive, and I think that is true. However it will not be the Church which I now know has sold me and others the world over, so many "pups" in my life which has now lasted for almost half a century. The one good thing for me to come out of this is that for the first time in my life I am actually taking heed of what Jesus said during his ministry and coming to my own conclusions, rather than accepting literally what my own church told me what those conclusions should be. I rejoice in the goodness that I have come to understand in the Gospels and in their teaching. I give thanks for the many good and faithful Catholic Religious, and members of other christian churches as well as other faiths who, by their actions have shown themselves to be truly Gods people on earth. What they also do is show up in stark relief, the inept, sterile ministry of many who are so far from God, and tragically, they dont even know it. Father Flanagan is but one example from history; here's another; we are told that "greater love has no man than he give up his life for his friend" Maximillion Kolbe did just that in the darkness of the third reich. There are others, you dont need anyone to tell you that. 2B, you cant hide the truth, no matter how hard you try, or how much you want too!!

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CitizenWhy | Oct 06, 2010, 03:45 PM EDT

In the 60s my cousin in Ireland worked on a Committee (mainly Protestant) to end abuses in Roman Catholic School, particularly Christian Brothers schools. She was Catholic and was shocked at the anti-Protestant vitriol she heard (accusing her of being a Protestant or a traitor to the Catholic Church). No one would listen, or even be reasonable. For some reason she still goes to Mass,largely because the clergy who are relatives or stationed in our ancestral villages are true pastors and humble in the Service of God and Humanity and not obsessed with "the Church." Of course they wll never be bishops.

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