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Christian Brothers to pay $250M for Irish child and sex-abuse claims

'We understand and regret that nothing we say or do can turn back the clock for those affected by abuse'

By
PATRICK REYNOLDS,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Wednesday, November 25, 2009, 7:58 AM
Updated Wednesday, November 25, 2009, 8:15 AM

 

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The Christian Brothers in Ireland have announced they will pay $250 million in restitution for child sex abuses that happened in their schools and institutions.

In a statement, the order said they agreed to the sum after the publication of the Ryan Report into sex abuse in Irish religious institutions. The Christian Brothers were widely considered among the worst offenders.

"We understand and regret that nothing we say or do can turn back the clock for those affected by abuse," the order's officials said.

'Our fervent hope is that the initiatives now proposed will assist in the provision of support services to former residents of the institutions as well as the facilities, resources and scope to protect, cherish and educate present and future generations of children.

"The range of measures follow the Christian Brothers' acceptance, shame and sorrow at the findings of the Ryan Report,."

The inquiry into abuses by priests in the Archdiocese of Dublin is expected to be published on Thursday. This report is said to outline a horrific series of incidents involving some members of the clergy and underage children in the Archdiocese.

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Posted by jacersisityourself on Dec 09, 2009, 02:45 PM EST
Some of the money being paid out in compensation to abused people by these religious orders comes from Insurance Policies taken out in the ‘80s against claims being made when news of the abuses was barely breaking. While much of it is insurance money, much of the open land owned by religious orders and formerly used for quiet parkland walks, spiritual reflection and the training of GAA games, Rugby and other sports, was also sold to property developers in the recent past decades. The developers built and sold houses on these lands to the ordinary people of Ireland and in doing so passed on the price they paid for the little bit of land one’s house sits on to all house purchasers in Ireland. Therefore, in not an insignificant part, thousands upon thousands of house buyers in Ireland living on former religious orders-owned lands are paying or have paid the compensation money. Not a single Property Developer amongst them. irishathens is right – no money will ever compensate. I could play the divil’s advocate and ask, if that’s the case – why give money at all as compo? But I won’t ask; I don’t want to be an advocate of the divil.
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Posted by jacersisityourself on Dec 09, 2009, 02:42 PM EST
(Trying to re-post by splitting in two) ... Benbhoy asks (Nov 28) how did the CBs institution “accrue this wealth?” Not too late I hope for Benbhoy for me to say that the founder of the Christian Brothers of Ireland, Edmund Rice (now Blessed Edmund Rice), a normal but very wealthy businessman in Waterford City in the Southeast of Ireland, gave up all of his wealth to help the poor of Waterford, building small schools here and there to give them an education in the basic things of reading, writing and arithmetic (the “three R’s”). He called on others to do so and many joined him. Thus was begun the education of the rough, tough raggedy boys of the Ireland of the mid-1800s (nuns did it for the girls). The later schools were built with some State aid and significant donations by the public at large and so the movement grew. The Christian Brothers themselves are not wealthy – in all my years and to this day I’ve never seen a CB drive his own car, unlike parish priests. Even the RCC itself is not wealthy, in fact in the late 70s/early 80s, before the scandals, it was found to be virtually financially broke. (more... )
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Posted by jacersisityourself on Dec 09, 2009, 02:40 PM EST
I've tried twice to post a comment in reply to Bebhoy and irishathens but they've disappeared into the internet ether (again!). Ah well...
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Posted by irishathens on Dec 05, 2009, 05:24 AM EST
Offering money...thats degrading their victims further..We used you, abused you BUT we will offer money...These victims are not prostitutes that sold a service..they don't want your 'dirty' money...They want you publically named, shamed and jailed
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Posted by adfloatj23 on Dec 01, 2009, 02:16 AM EST
As the tippman said the majority of the christian brothers were good men and are doing what is right, But he forgot or maybe he is asleep to the fact that the christian brothers are a close order and as such you would have to be either stupid or blind not to know what was going on all those years, Where were the good old fellows when all this abuse was going on, Sorry that excuse wont fly, Disband the bunch and sell off all their assets and give back to the people they stole it from.
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Posted by wizardofoz on Nov 30, 2009, 09:14 AM EST
2B, you are nothing more than an apologist for paedophiles and pederasts! The facts are indisputable! ‘Ephebophils’ are predators (chronophilia) adutls, which prey on adolescents in the age range between 15years and 19 years. In almost all cases of abuse in the Roman Catholic Church, this was no so. You lie! The Roman Catholic Church is guilty, not just in Ireland, but on every continent on earth were it has covered up this systematic abuse of children entrusted to its care. It is the MOST EVILE Empire this world has ever known and is rotten from the head down. Every branch of its entrails is rotten! The ‘brothers’ the ‘Nuns’ the ‘Priesthood’ Bishops Cardinals and Pontiffs, the lot are rotten! They preach not the word of GOD and the love of Christ, but rather the love of money and power over the innocent. Corruption does not start at the bottom and work its way up; a fish rots from the head down. I feel a great sympathy for the many good and descent Roman Catholics who have had their faith shattered. But this has always been the way down through the millennia. Murder, intrigue, scheming and conniving are all part of the corrupted priestcraft that is a monument to the Church of Rome. All you hand wringers advising prayer as an answer to the grave injustice that invades the very sanctity of your faith are exactly what the criminals, which infest your church, believed in the first place. ‘Because of our standing, we will be protected.’ By refusing to hand these gross criminals over to the justice system the Church of Rome confirmed their protection within its remit, which in the 26 Counties was sacrament! Is it any wonder the Protestants of the north wanted nothing to do with such hypocrisy? Home rule was always going to be ‘Rome Rule’ history proves how right they were.
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Posted by wizardofoz on Nov 30, 2009, 08:21 AM EST
2B, you are nothing more than an apologist for paedophiles and pederasts! The facts are indisputable! ‘Ephebophils’ are predators (chronophilia) adutls, which prey on adolescents in the age range between 15years and 19 years. In almost all cases of abuse in the Roman Catholic Church, this was not so. You lie! The Roman Catholic Church is guilty, not just in Ireland, but on every continent on earth were it has covered up this systematic abuse of children entrusted to its care. It is the MOST EVILE Empire this world has ever known and is rotten from the head down. Every branch of its entrails is rotten! The ‘brothers’ the ‘Nuns’ the ‘Priesthood’ Bishops Cardinals and Pontiffs, the lot are rotten! They preach not the word of GOD and the love of Christ, but rather the love of money and power over the innocent. Corruption does not start at the bottom and work its way up; a fish rots from the head down. I feel a great sympathy for the many good and descent Roman Catholics who have had their faith shattered. But this has always been the way down through the millennia. Murder, intrigue, scheming and conniving are all part of the corrupted priestcraft that is a monument to the Church of Rome. All you hand wringers advising prayer as an answer to the grave injustice that invades the very sanctity of your faith are exactly what the criminals, which infest your church, believed in the first place. ‘Because of our standing, we will be protected.’ By refusing to hand these gross criminals over to the justice system the Church of Rome confirmed their protection within its remit, which in the 26 Counties was sacrament! Is it any wonder the Protestants of the north wanted nothing to do with such hypocrisy? Home rule was always going to be ‘Rome Rule’ history proves how right they were.
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Posted by 2BorNot2B on Nov 28, 2009, 05:36 PM EST
Further, it is known that the worst cases of abuse happen at home, in the midst of families and schools, and who has as of yet gone after the government or school boards for allowing such infamy to continue unabated? The ONLY target of detractors, scammers and money seekers seems to be the Catholic Church, because it is perceived to be not only a rich target, but one whose destruction has been pursued since its inception. >>Covering-up the Church's own dysfunctionality has, sadly, become more important than its humanity<< -- Actually, the CC is the only institution to date that has admitted its culpability and indemnified those affected. No other church or religion has ever been hounded and made to cough up its treasure to the extent it has been extracted from the Cath Church, despite the fact that in order to do this laws have been ignored, changed and re-written, and long expired statutes of limitation brought back into effect. Cases from as far back as the 1930's involving deceases plaintiffs have been allowed to be investigated. Clearly this an exceptionalism that points to hatred and greed, more than to desire for justice, because dead people make poor witnesses or accusers.-- >>If there is a Hell, I hope there's a special section where such despicable hypocrites will not just burn, but rot<< -- Same wish goes for those who will only see the mote in the CC's eye(which throughout 2 millenia has done more good for the world in general -she civilized Europe, for starters- than the evil a few despicable men have), and choose to be blinded by the log that covers their own eye.
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Posted by 2BorNot2B on Nov 28, 2009, 05:14 PM EST
Replying to eniwetok: >>It's clear that the Catholic Church's own doctrines of celibacy are attracting troubled men and the hierarchy has compounded this with its own corruption.<< -- The doctrine of celibacy may only tangentially have something to do with the problems besetting the Church. The truth may really be that troubled men find it opportune to join institutions where the availability of other men is plentiful. Once there, perhaps lack of dedication, boredom and low resistance to temptation of those who are less than comitted to the vocation make a fruitful field for homosexual rectruiting.-- It is a fact that the great part of the incidents were not pedophilic but ephebophilic and homosexual in nature. -- That is, sex either between a minor and/or consenting adults, and this has a HELL of a lot more causes than the simple evil every anti-Catholic and anti-Religion minded accuser coming out of the woodwork wants to tack on singly to Catholicism in general. In fact, there have been just as many or more cases occurring in every other religion, from Buddhism to Hinduism, to Jewish religion, to Islamism, to Evangelicalism. Just a few days ago a particularly loathsome evangelical by the name of Tony Alamo was sentenced for the rape and abuse of some 175 minors, and those are only the ones that were actually counted.-- continues..
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Posted by benbhoy on Nov 28, 2009, 11:29 AM EST
How did this institution accrue this wealth?
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Posted by adfloatj23 on Nov 28, 2009, 09:34 AM EST
I was a victim of the (christian brothers )back in the fifty`s in Limerick, My question is; How do I get a piece of the $ 250 mil, Anybody know? Or is this another of the bullshit excuses from the catholic church, I agree with Linzoid they should be made to disband and all properties and assets should be sold and funds be disbursed to the needy people they stole it from.
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Posted by jacersisityourself on Nov 25, 2009, 07:38 PM EST
In the interests of transparency, now that most deviant Christian Brothers have been named and shamed, can we have a list of names of the people who will be beneficiaries of the compensatory handout? It is widely known that most people who have been abused become abusers themselves. We wait for the times that those abused by the CBs will pass on the handouts they receive to those whom they may have or will or perhaps will in the future ... and so on until someone cries for it "STOP IT ALL!" Right now please. Paper money is no compensation for the damage done. Ever.
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Posted by dessieglynn on Nov 25, 2009, 12:37 PM EST
Hey! I was "educated" by the Christain Brothers!!!!!! Where is my share of the 250 million. Nothing to complain about---I never got a hiding I did not deserve. And I was never abused.!!
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Posted by redspirit on Nov 25, 2009, 12:26 PM EST
I believe Linzoid has the best answer - in that the Christian Brothers outht to disband and property confiscated. Has anything truly changed or will it happen again and another "Ryan Report" will need to be done.???
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Posted by manhattan on Nov 25, 2009, 11:41 AM EST
What was with those Irish Christian brothers and the abuse the boys went through with them.? I have said this before, The physical abuse on the boys in the school I went too was Good Shepherd in Manhattan in the 40's and 50's . Today to hear the stories of men now in there 60's and 70's tell you can't imagine why this was allowed. It was a really sick institution. I wonder if any of those beasts thought about what they did when they knelt down to pray?
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Posted by Linzoid on Nov 25, 2009, 10:42 AM EST
"In a statement, the order said they agreed to the sum after the publication of the Ryan Report into sex abuse in Irish religious institutions. The Christian Brothers were widely considered among the worst offenders." -- They waited until AFTER the report before "agreeing" to the sum of $250,000,000. Cowards. Where was this "shame and sorrow" five years ago? Ten years ago? They waited until they were finally caught by testimony, research, and the facts. How noble. Why not disband the order, confiscated the property, and sell all the assets for distribution to the victims and their families? At the very least, change the name from "Christian" to something else...anything else.
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Posted by DrArthurIde on Nov 25, 2009, 10:37 AM EST
Rape regardless of gender or age is a crime (and a sin) and child abuse is the worse. While not all Catholic Brothers, Fathers, Sisters, Bishops have been guilty of this henious crime, a good number of all have been. It is time to end the fiction of clerical celibacy (it became "law" only in the Middle Ages) and has neither biblical nor patristic foundation, and if it is abandoned, some of the abuse (not all) may stop. The payments are justified, but can anyone be certain that all accusers are telling the truth--or just cashing in on the reprehensible stories accumulated. Children are neither innocent nor angels, and they do lie--what was the criteria in evaluating their accounts. Those who were abused should be compensated--those seeking money or temporary fame should be exposed. Screaming abuse has long been a method of intimidating others, and each case should be carefully scrutinized.
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Posted by eniwetok on Nov 25, 2009, 10:36 AM EST
One has to wonder what sort of psychopathology is at work where people who claim to follow the teachings of Christ can often bastardize those teachings to justify their own perversion or sadism. And what kind of Godly institution fails to weed out such psychos but actually covers up their deeds? The sex abuse scandals in the US are rampant. The Bishop of my local Diocese in Springfield Massachusetts US was recently accused of sex abuse! It's clear that the Catholic Church's own doctrines of celibacy are attracting troubled men and the hierarchy has compounded this with its own corruption. Covering-up the Church's own dysfunctionality has, sadly, become more important than its humanity. If there is a Hell, I hope there's a special section where such despicable hypocrites will not just burn, but rot.
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Posted by Kazootoyou on Nov 25, 2009, 10:26 AM EST
This is continued Catholic bashing by worldwide media. Just where does this money for this payoff come from, insurance or collections? Will these same abused Irish ask the USA for reperation $$$ for the mistreatment by Americans upon legal immigration to the US by Irish? The famous signs, "No Irish neep apply".
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Posted by Tippman on Nov 25, 2009, 10:01 AM EST
They, the Christian Brothers, are doing the right thing as far as they are concerned. They're not hiding behind the skirts of Holy Mother Church. The vast majority were good men who were doing the job they were asked to do. They are the ones who now need our charity/forgiveness as they are elderly and nearly destitute. Ireland created them and would now like to put them away. How sad for them and for everyone involved.
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Posted by Siobhan39 on Nov 25, 2009, 09:56 AM EST
How often do we hear the clergy apologize. I'm sorry . . . the rest of the sentence is, "I'm sorry . . . because I got caught."
 


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