Victims of abuse in the Diocese of Ferns have accused the church body of "callous and inappropriate" behaviour by sending letters to their homes claiming they would "suffer most" from certain media coverage of the issue.
The director of the One in Four support group, Mr Colm O'Gorman, said the diocese had breached confidentiality in posting the correspondence to the victims' family homes instead of their legal representatives.
This, along with the content of the letter, had caused "huge distress" among a number of the recipients, said Mr O'Gorman, who was one of several boys abused by Father Seán Fortune in Co Wexford in the 1980s.
The letter, posted the day after last week's broadcast of the BBC documentary Suing the Pope, was signed by Sister Helen O'Riordan, who was appointed in November as the diocese's "support person" for victims of abuse.
It read: "Bishop Eamonn Walsh and all of us who work in the area of child protection in the Diocese of Ferns are very conscious of the effect that last night's BBC programme will have on you.
"The major hurts and abuse of the past will once again be made public and I know that it is people like yourselves who will suffer most as a result."
The letter went on to explain the nature of the diocese's "outreach facility", and included contact numbers for Sister O'Riordan.
Father John Carroll, a spokesman for the diocese, admitted the letter was "probably a cold way of introduction".
However, he said, "it has been said that the church never communicated with the people affected, and it's within that spirit that this went out". He denied the letter sought to blame the television programme. "There is nothing more to this than an effort to be present for people at a time when things are raised in public. There have been different reactions to it, some positive, some not so.
"Certainly, we will take cognisance of what people have communicated back, and it will be factored into how we go from here."
However, Mr O'Gorman said the letter showed a "reprehensible lack of awareness" on the part of the bishop and diocese.
"People feel invaded and disrespected again. They did not seek this contact with the bishop and they did not want it. To me it shows absolutely nothing has changed in terms of attitudes in the past 12 months."
Another victim of abuse, who did not wished to be named, told The Irish Times the letter had "knocked me back to square one".
He said he had only come forward about his abuse last year after the broadcast of an initial version of the documentary in which Mr O'Gorman was profiled. "This letter seems to be saying: 'had it not been for Colm and the programme, we would not have any problems'. How am I meant to take that? The film gave me hope."
