Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal

In the late 20th century, and especially at the turn of the 21st, the Catholic Church in several countries was confronted with a series of allegations concerning sexual abuse of children under the legal age of consent ¹ by Catholic clergy and religious.

Abuse in the community

The largely unrestricted contact clergyman had with children (through teaching in schools and parish links with families) meant that a child molester in the priesthood was a serious danger to children. In part, this was because priests and religious officials and persons across all religions were viewed as trustworthy individuals, whom families allowed to get close to them. The clergy were involved in every aspect of their community's and its families' lives; from baptising the young to the weekly celebration of Mass, giving children First Communion to marrying couples and being the celebrant of their funerals.

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Apart from direct family connections, many Catholic families sent their children to Catholic schools, where Catholic priests either taught as teachers or visited regularly as the local parish priest or curate. Participation in the Catholic faith involved a close association with, and proximity to, priests. While the vast majority of priests never sought to abuse a single child, the small minority who did had easy access to children.

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One of the worst examples of a clergyman using his links with families to facilitate the abuse of children occurred in Ireland, where one priest ² systematically raped and sexually abused hundreds of children between 1945 and 1990 . The scandal over the Fr. Brendan Smyth case, and the systematic obstruction of justice in his case by the Norbertine Order, caused immense damage to the credibility of the Catholic church in Ireland, as did other cases, such as a parish priest, Fr. Jim Grennan, who abused children as they prepared for First Communion, and Fr. Sean Fortune, who committed suicide before his trial for the rape of children. The abuse by Grennan and by others in the Diocese of Ferns in south-east Ireland led to the resignation of the local bishop, Brendan Comiskey while similar scandals in the Archdiocese of Dublin severely damaged the reputation of its archbishop, Cardinal Connell. Although there were other social factors at play, some have argued that the ten year drop in the percentage of Irish people attending weekly Mass (63% to 48%) was related to these events.

Related Topics:
Ireland - ² - 1945 - 1990 - Brendan Smyth - Obstruction of justice - Norbertine - Jim Grennan - First Communion - Fr. Sean Fortune - Suicide - Diocese of Ferns - Brendan Comiskey - Cardinal Connell

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