The Ferns inquiry report shows the Roman Catholic Church, from its lowest level to the highest echelons of the Vatican, failed in its responsibility, writes Colm O'Gorman
It is time to consign the sad and tragic history of the horrific sexual abuse of children and young people in the diocese of Ferns to history.
It should have been possible to do so years ago. In a perfect world it would have happened within months of the first case of abuse being reported to the church. Its consignment to history would have happened in consequence of the church, and State, putting in place practices and legislation that would have prevented further abuse.
This is not a perfect world, however, and as we all now know in great detail, thanks to the work of Mr Justice Frank Murphy and the Ferns inquiry, the Roman Catholic Church's response to clerical sexual abuse was very far short of perfect.
Even the most cursory examination of this report by any reasonable, objective person will reveal that successive bishops were wholly negligent in the handling of such cases and that the Roman Catholic Church, from its lowest level to the highest echelons of the Vatican, failed in its responsibility to properly protect and care for children.
The Ferns report reveals that the first complaint it identified was made in 1966, when Fr Donal Collins was removed from his post as a teacher in St Peter's College and dispatched to London for two years following allegations that he had sexually abused up to 20 boys.
The report is severely critical of the failure of the then bishop of Ferns, Dr Donal Herlihy, to properly inform the Archdiocese of Westminster of the reasons for Fr Collins's transfer. It is also critical of Fr Collins's subsequent reappointment as a teacher; his being placed in charge some eight years later of swimming lessons with pupils at St Peter's; and his appointment by Bishop Brendan Comiskey in 1988 as principal of St Peter's College, the diocesan secondary school for boys.
The fact that Fr Collins remained in ministry for 24 years following this complaint, and worked as a teacher and principal in St Peter's College up until 1990, is a graphic illustration of the Roman Catholic Church's gross failures over some 40 years in the Diocese of Ferns. That Fr Collins continued to sexually assault and abuse boys following that 1966 complaint is the tragic and inevitable consequence of those failures.
Fr Collins is only one of the 26 priests against whom there were more than 100 allegations of clerical sexual abuse. The way in which his case was handled is indicative of the approach adopted by the Catholic Church in Ferns, in dioceses across Ireland, and internationally.
The Ferns report demonstrates beyond any doubt that protestations that the church was unaware of the nature of child sexual abuse until it was alerted by the media in the 1990s are wholly false.
It details how in 1962 the Vatican distributed a document entitled Crimen Solicitanis to every bishop in the world. The instructions from the Vatican, that this document was to be maintained in secret archives and was not to be published or publicly commented upon, are evocative of a Dan Brown novel.
Crimen Solicitanis instructs that church officials and even witnesses and complainants are required to take an oath of secrecy in relation to any disclosed sexual abuse. The penalty for a breach of that secrecy was automatic excommunication.
While many commentators have suggested that this document deals only with the ecclesiastical crime of solicitation - priests procuring sex in the confessional - the Ferns report and Mr Justice Murphy are clear that it also relates explicitly to cases of child sexual abuse.
This document may explain the abject failure of cardinals, bishops and priests to break silence and report these crimes to State and civil authorities. The threat of excommunication was in effect a death sentence to men who saw their lives only within the context of their priestly vocations. It was an incredibly effective tool in preventing the disclosure of widespread sexual abuse in Roman Catholic dioceses across the world.
The Ferns report states that it found "no evidence of this document in the files of the Diocese of Ferns that it has examined". Given the fact that bishops remain under an obligation, perhaps still under threat of excommunication, not to publish or comment upon the document, it is unsurprising that the diocese was unable to confirm its existence.
It seems unlikely that the diocese of Ferns, alone of all the Roman Catholic dioceses in the world, was left off the mailing list for such a sensitive and secretive document.
The Ferns report is clear in its finding that Roman Catholic Church authorities at the Vatican ". . . did not properly alert their priests to the danger of child sexual abuse at a time when they did or should have known of this danger. . ."
Earlier in the report it states: "Where an organisation is aware of a serious problem within its structure with criminal and child protection implications, it has a duty to alert and inform its personnel of this and to ensure that every step is taken to eliminate it as soon as possible." The inquiry found no evidence that this growing awareness was communicated by church authorities to the Diocese of Ferns.
This criticism of the Roman Catholic Church at Vatican level is an enormous vindication for those of us who have battled for years to hold the Vatican to account for its inaction. In my efforts to force the Vatican to respond, I launched a civil action against the Papal Nuncio as representative of the Pope.
The Papal Nuncio asserted diplomatic immunity and blocked my legal action. It was galling to see the church that I had learned was about truth and integrity manipulate its privileged position to refuse to explain its part in the rape and abuse of children and young people.
The Ferns report is explicit in its criticism of the church's response to more than 100 allegations of sexual abuse made against 26 of its priests. It is shocking to reflect that this figure reflects, by even the most generously applied statistical information, more than 12 per cent of priests ordained for the Diocese of Ferns since 1932.
In the US we know that 4 per cent of priests have faced allegations; it is clear that the dramatically higher percentage of priests in Ferns facing allegations must be a symptom of a deeper failure on the part of both the church in Ireland and the State.
In the coming weeks it is essential that we all study the detail of this extensive report to identify and rectify those child protection factors and criminal justice failures that clearly contributed to this litany of abuse. If we do so with purpose and with integrity then we can finally consign this appalling saga to history where it belongs.
Colm O'Gorman is director of One in Four, a charity offering support and resources for people who have suffered sexual abuse