Child Abuse

Abstract

Thus wrote Peadar Cowan in the 1960s, particularly in relation to Catholic institutions run by the teaching religious. His, however, was very much a lone voice at the time, and not just in relation to Ireland, about which he was specifically speaking. Up until about 25 years ago, the vast majority of expositions on the teaching religious in Catholic schools and other educational institutions, as pointed out in Chapter One, were both historical and hagiographic. In the main, they were produced by the religious orders themselves to commemorate what they viewed as the heroic sacrifices of their predecessors. In more recent years, however, there has been an awakening of interest in this group of teachers across society more generally. The interest has been generated largely by accounts demonstrating that it was not all a tale of heroism and achievement, that there was a darker side to what went on in schools and other institutions run by the church, involving both physical and sexual abuse of minors. The popular press was particularly active in the associated project, revealing the shameful side of the life and deeds of some of those who were members of religious orders. It was not long until scholarly accounts of what took place also started to appear. ²

There is a tendency to hide from the public knowledge of any incident of unnatural practice in institutions to which children are committed by the courts … When they do occur the citizens ought to be told. Only by knowing can they take a helpful interest in the welfare of those children for whom they, too, have a moral responsibility.¹