Report: Catholic Church, Police Blasted for Sex Crimes Coverups
Jim Kouri, CPP
October 27, 2005
A disturbing report released in Ireland this week details a far-reaching pattern of sexual abuse by Catholic priests that goes back over 30 years.
The amazingly detailed report, submitted by a former Irish judge, goes far beyond just the priests and a couple of Catholic bishops in Ireland. It also blasts the Irish police officers who allegedly didn't investigate the abuse complaints or conducted sloppy investigations. It also depicted a pattern of abuse going back to 1966 with over a hundred allegations made against over 20 Catholic clergymen in just one Diocese alone.
Mismanagement by bishops included transferring priests to other Dioceses and not demanding accused priests to undergo psychological treatment. According to news reports in Ireland, one of the suspected child abusers actually received a promotion to college principal
Unlike the United States Catholic priests identified as child molesters and abusers, the majority of Irish priests are accused of sexually assaulting girls. Most of the US cases involved priests with pubescent or prepubescent boys. Experts contacted could not offer theories as to why the majority of the Irish sex abuse cases are heterosexual, while the majority of US cases are homosexual.
There are also allegations that police officers were told to cover-up complaints against clerics by their commanding officers. The report also details incidents where files simply disappeared.
Although the report concerns a single diocese, its criticism extends to the entire Catholic Church hierarchy including the Church officials in the Vatican. It claims the Church officials failed to perform their duties to protect the children from predator priests.
"From the documents furnished to this inquiry by the Diocese... there is no evidence that the growing awareness of this problem was communicated to church authorities in the diocese.
"The inquiry is concerned that the church authorities, either in this country or in Rome, did not properly alert their priests to the danger of child sexual abuse."
The investigation into child abuse by Catholic priests resulted from a television news special about the subject. The investigation took several years to conduct and investigators interviewed hundreds of victims, witnesses, Church officials, police and other people of interest.
The amazingly detailed report, submitted by a former Irish judge, goes far beyond just the priests and a couple of Catholic bishops in Ireland. It also blasts the Irish police officers who allegedly didn't investigate the abuse complaints or conducted sloppy investigations. It also depicted a pattern of abuse going back to 1966 with over a hundred allegations made against over 20 Catholic clergymen in just one Diocese alone.
Mismanagement by bishops included transferring priests to other Dioceses and not demanding accused priests to undergo psychological treatment. According to news reports in Ireland, one of the suspected child abusers actually received a promotion to college principal
Unlike the United States Catholic priests identified as child molesters and abusers, the majority of Irish priests are accused of sexually assaulting girls. Most of the US cases involved priests with pubescent or prepubescent boys. Experts contacted could not offer theories as to why the majority of the Irish sex abuse cases are heterosexual, while the majority of US cases are homosexual.
There are also allegations that police officers were told to cover-up complaints against clerics by their commanding officers. The report also details incidents where files simply disappeared.
Although the report concerns a single diocese, its criticism extends to the entire Catholic Church hierarchy including the Church officials in the Vatican. It claims the Church officials failed to perform their duties to protect the children from predator priests.
"From the documents furnished to this inquiry by the Diocese... there is no evidence that the growing awareness of this problem was communicated to church authorities in the diocese.
"The inquiry is concerned that the church authorities, either in this country or in Rome, did not properly alert their priests to the danger of child sexual abuse."
The investigation into child abuse by Catholic priests resulted from a television news special about the subject. The investigation took several years to conduct and investigators interviewed hundreds of victims, witnesses, Church officials, police and other people of interest.
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