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Startling figures reveal child abuse claims against one in 14 Dublin priests

Diocesan report highlights seven per cent statistic

PATRICK COUNIHAN,

IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Friday, May 25, 2012, 7:53 AM

Updated Friday, May 25, 2012, 7:53 AM

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A new report by the Dublin Archdiocese reveals one in every 14 priests has been the subject of child abuse allegations

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A new report by the Dublin Archdiocese reveals one in every 14 priests has been the subject of child abuse allegations.

The shocking figure, reported on wwww.thejournal.ie, relates to official statistics going back over 70 years.

The archdiocese report also states that the figure continues to rise with fresh allegations ongoing. Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin has been outspoken in cleaning up the mess in his own archdiocese and speaking out strongly.

In the last year alone, it says, accusations have been made against four priests who were not previously the subject of allegations.

Suspicions have also been raised over a fifth priest working in the Dublin diocese.

The report says that 98 Dublin priests have been accused of sexually abusing children since the 1940s. Around 1,350 priests have served in the diocese in that time so the allegations refer to seven per cent of the total, or just over one in 14.

The figures are revealed in the annual Child Protection Update released by the Archdiocese of Dublin.

The report shows a ‘sharp decline in abuse allegations since the 1980s, when they peaked after rising through the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s’.

It also contains details of ten priests who it describes as serial abusers. One had 97 allegations against him.

The report says that five of the ten have been criminally convicted, and two are now deceased while, of the remaining three, one has been laicised and has no contact with the diocese. The other two are out of active ministry, and are being ‘supervised’ by the diocese.

Journal.ie reports that Andrew Fagan, director of the archdiocese’s Child Safeguarding and Protection Service, said it is one of a small number of organisations across the country actively supervising men who are deemed a risk to children.

“The service reduces the risk of reoffending and is more extensive than equivalent State-run services,” he said.

“It is essential that the diocese continue to prioritise the safety of children.

“While the majority of allegations of abuse reported to us now relate to sexual abuse which may have occurred many years ago, it is still crucial to be vigilant and to work to ensure standards are maintained.

“However parishes in Dublin are now safer places for children to be.”

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ChillaKilla | May 27, 2012, 11:50 PM EDT

kilkennyroots, as they say in that despicable website put on the net to worship 'all things barrack,' The HuffPoo. Your reply to Portia deserves my respect; you have been fanned and faved in my book! Yours is a coherent, fair and well reasoned response... but don't hold your breath thinking these haters will understand. Their hatred runs deep, and their posts only reflect the misery and darkness that pervades their soul.

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kilkennyroots | May 27, 2012, 07:10 PM EDT

Portia777. What an absolutely vile statement to say that I condone the rape of children. You say, "you would know if it happened to you." Well, Portia my dear, it did. In my sad case, the abuse was by a Little League baseball coach, not a priest. The threshold issue is whether or not the institution in which the abuser holds a position of trust has social value. In my case, I direct all of my anger at the abuser and if there was evidence that other people knew about or tolerated what he did, then my anger would be equally directed at them. However, because I value the role Little League Baseball serves in American society, I have never sought the destruction of the entire institution. I have supported the introduction of safeguards to prevent it from happening to others. I suppose if I hated the institution to begin with, then I would have used my own experience as evidence that the institution had no value. The priest scandal is an absolute horror, and those who abused and those who looked the other way deserve the full measure of punishment. But since I also value the institution of the church and refuse to forget all the good that my church has done for me, my family and my fellow man, my emotional response to this horror is that of sadness and anger. It most certainly is not the glee which Irish Central and most other media outlets seem to exude when "reporting" on these matters. Only one who had an ax to grind with the church to begin with would react to this a horrible mess with such enthusiasm. Those who have always hated the church are exploiting the pain of the victims to further their own anti-church agendas.

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ChillaKilla | May 27, 2012, 03:29 PM EDT

What a vehicle this website provides for Catholic Church haters! I wonder what people like Portia, eiriamach, Kibbey, Searlit, Bythebay, and Katie Murphy would go to bask in their own perceived self-righteousness and unload their bitter bile if IC did not exist...... Their attitude reminds me of the hordes of communist and anti-clerical exiles who high-tailed it out of Spain after they lost the civil war. They spread out through Latin America, and while they enjoyed the fruits of lording it over the natives because of their higher education, their mission of undermining and destroying what they hated and could not while in their native country, continues unabated to this day......The slight difference here is that the haters have slightly, though no less pernicious agendas, such as defense and promotion of gayness, chipping away of moral authority to the enhancement of their own philosophical thought creations, and general NewAge nuttiness.....No wonder Jesus lamented: "Will the Son of Man find faith when he comes back..."

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KatieMurphy | May 27, 2012, 01:01 AM EDT

to a poster who makes excuses eg IC trying to destroy the chuch - wonder what he would say if he discovered it included his kid - many btw who committed suicide in another example of how the church "protects life:"...............BTW we still have almost zero on the hierarchy itself having raped children. Could it be that thats another reason they hid these vile crimes............. Also I note the article says the molestation went down in the 1980s etc. That is exactly what is in the report to the bishops from the John Jay institute of criminal justice, part of CCNY...........In the report it says that this happened "as many more gay priests entered the priesthood> the conclusion is obvious _ the gay priests had consensual age appropriate sex with other gay priests>>>>>>while the straight priests had no where to go except the kiddies < eg they couldnt afford prostitutes> >>>>>>>>here again we see how the church tried to demonize gay people< how conveniently they forget that lies are just another sin>

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Searlit | May 25, 2012, 11:23 PM EDT

Someone had to stand up for the children. Thank God, at last.

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eiriamach | May 25, 2012, 06:51 PM EDT

hermitTalker thinks the media "are on the bishops like flies on a cow's behind on a hot day." If only they were! Since the Church in the USA has done precisely nothing to safeguard children and since the Church in Ireland has not yet succeeded in safeguarding children, attention from the media is about the only way to deter pedophile priests and keep parents alerted to the danger.

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AndrewSB49 | May 25, 2012, 05:08 PM EDT

Gosh, kilkenny roots seems to be choking on the wafer. The decades long facilitation of clergy who abused children and the decades long cover up of the abuses is the reason why the authority of the Roman Catholic Church has been destroyed. It central isn't the case that Irish Central or the media in general is over reporting clergy abuse cases - do bear in mind, kilkennyroots, that in the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s reports of priest abusing children were never reported in the media and the main reason for that was because Church authorities were covering the abuses up and facilitating the abusers in their ranks.

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peterson | May 25, 2012, 02:43 PM EDT

Leaving the Church is not the answer, forcing the Cardinals and the Pope to clean house, IS the answer !!

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EphraimKibbey | May 25, 2012, 01:15 PM EDT

OK, 10 SERIAL child abusers. 5 are in prison and 2 are deceased. Why are the other 3 not on trial? What is being done about the other 88 that are not "SERIAL" abusers but have had complaints lodged against them? Are their cases being investigated by the police to either clear them or indite them? As Portia777 rightly says, one instance of child abuse is one too many. Are these details left out of the church's report or were they just not included in this article? kilkennyroots and Murph46, this is just in Dublin. Extrapolate these findings to ALL of Ireland, ALL of the USA, ALL of the world and you have a lot of VICTIMS out there. How many priests does the RCC have total? Are 7% of all priests child abusers worldwide? Far from this report seeming "That's all?" to me, the extent of abuse in this one archdiocese is very disturbing especially when used to view the possibilities worldwide.

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Bythebay | May 25, 2012, 12:44 PM EDT

Startling?? This report was published by the Dublin Archdiocese showing just the tip of the iceberg for their own self-preservation!!

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Portia777 | May 25, 2012, 11:46 AM EDT

kilkennyrootsThe only thing "shocking" about this whole sordid mess is the extent to which Irish Central and the rest of the Catholic-hating media has gone to destroy the Church. You do realise that your words condone the rape of children. One rape of a child is one too many. You would know if it happened to you.

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Portia777 | May 25, 2012, 11:43 AM EDT

kilkennyroots. The ROMAN church is doing a fine job destroying itself.

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hermitTalker | May 25, 2012, 11:38 AM EDT

Agree with K-R and Murph46 here. Wish to add that the general media in Ireland and the USA and other nations are wont to shove the Church's face into the caic, and on every topic, the latest in the USA Pope "throwing nuns under the bus" and of course the ongoing lie that the First Amendment concern of the "conservative" bishops is to back the GOP and attack Mr Obama who needs army training to stop shooting himself in the foot so much as the election makes him so desperate. I shudded to think that will happen in Ireland, and in the USA, when reporting of abuse is as honest as the bishops have been and we can see how many married and single and female and male abusers hit the evening news. The NYT is already burying the rabbis inside and putting the catholic clergy on page one and they and others are on the bishops like flies on a cow's behind on a hot day

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Murph46 | May 25, 2012, 11:25 AM EDT

Till I scrolled down and saw killkennyroots response ,I thought the same -That's all!

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kilkennyroots | May 25, 2012, 11:10 AM EDT

That's all? The way Irish Central drums away at this issue one would think the percentage is near 100%. The only thing "shocking" about this whole sordid mess is the extent to which Irish Central and the rest of the Catholic-hating media has gone to destroy the Church.

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