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Irish Times
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
The hurt that dripped from Michael O'Brien and others has to be part of Pope Francis's legacy
Born a few years before Pope Francis , Michael O'Brien, who also died this week , will be remembered for his appearance on RTÉ 's Questions and Answers current affairs programme in May 2009. As an audience member, he spoke powerfully and agonisingly of the physical and sexual abuse he experienced in Ferryhouse industrial school near Clonmel, Co Tipperary, run by the Rosminians. The hurt dripped from him as his testimony detailed a family torn apart, a childhood ruined and a life haunted by nightmares. One of 13 children, after O'Brien's mother died in 1942 he was taken by the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children 'on a scut truck' to court in Clonmel. The siblings were sent to different institutions and 'there was nothing my father could do'. Two nights after he arrived in Ferryhouse, he was raped. 'Our only crime against the State was that we were poor and had no mother,' he recalled. Although O'Brien met his wife Mary when he was aged 18, he did not tell her about the abuse until 1999. He also spoke of a suicide attempt after spending five days at the Ryan Commission inquiry into child abuse, a stark reminder of the renewed trauma that reliving these experiences could spark. As an elected politician and Fianna Fáil mayor of Clonmel from 1993-1994, O'Brien's was an unusual victim's voice, but his demand was a consistent one from many victims: 'the government and the religious orders must not do anything now without consulting us'. READ MORE Amid the tributes paid to the late pope, it is fitting that O'Brien is remembered generously too. The personal experience he outlined was part of the reason Pope Francis's visit to Ireland in 2018 was so different from the previous Irish papal visit in 1979. Thousands turned out for a 'Stand 4 Truth' protest in the Garden of Remembrance in 2018 to coincide with the pope's Phoenix Park Mass. [ 'I couldn't believe the bravery': Abuse survivors pay tribute to Michael O'Brien and his 'powerful' RTÉ testimony on child sex abuse Opens in new window ] When speaking at the outset of the papal visit, then-taoiseach Leo Varadkar eschewed the fawning tone of 1979 while Francis looked on. Varadkar referred to 'failures of both church and State, and wider society' that 'created a bitter and broken heritage for so many, leaving a legacy of pain and suffering. It is a history of sorrow and shame ... stains on our State, our society and also the Catholic church.' The warm glow around the Francis obsequies this week should not obliterate those stains or the enduring relevance of O'Brien's experiences and the trauma abuse victims continue to endure. Varadkar insisted in 2018 there was still 'much to be done to bring about justice and truth and healing for victims and survivors ... We must now ensure that from words flow actions.' That speech remains relevant for Ireland and the Vatican. O'Brien's insistence in 2009 that victims be made central has hardly been honoured to anything like the extent required. Shortly before the death of Francis, for example, the report compiled by Sheila Nunan, the independent negotiator appointed by government to liaise with religious organisations over financial redress, revealed that only two of eight religious bodies linked to mother and baby homes have offered to contribute to a survivor redress scheme. [ Pope in Ireland: Francis speaks of Church's failure to tackle clerical abuse 'scandal' Opens in new window ] What went on in Ferryhouse was known before O'Brien bared his trauma. In 1990, the Rosminian provincial Fr James Flynn was unambiguous: 'The greatest guilt has to be borne by those of us who utilised or condoned or ignored the extreme severity, even brutality which characterised at times the regime at Ferryhouse.' Yet even a quarter of a century later during the pontificate of Francis, and after an avalanche of evidence of abuse, the Vatican prized its power over its responsibilities and culpability. True, Francis met victims, listened to them, and appealed for forgiveness. He summoned bishops to tell them survivors deserved 'concrete and efficient measures'. But the self-serving bureaucracy was still allowed to choke transparency. Marie Collins, a victim of clerical sex abuse in Ireland in 1960, and appointed a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors established by Francis in 2014, resigned in 2017 over what she regarded as a 'shameful' lack of co-operation. The commission was incorporated into the Roman Curia, the Holy See's all-too-powerful government. In 2022, Francis was still pleading for a 'reliable account on what is presently being done and what needs to change' in relation to child abuse and its survivors. O'Brien railed against the non-disclosure agreements victims were faced with as part of the redress process and decried the indemnities given to religious orders in return for patently inadequate contributions. Ultimately, what he was looking for was reflected in the name of the group he chaired: 'Right to Peace'. That finding such peace was made so difficult for so many should also be recorded as part of the legacy of Francis's pontificate.
Irish Examiner
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Irish Examiner
Pope Francis' visit to Ireland provided ‘powerful moment' for abuse survivors
The visit of Pope Francis to Ireland seven years ago was said to have offered a 'powerful' opportunity for survivors of clerical abuse to gather in solidarity and highlight scandals. Despite being praised for an 'important' letter to US bishops in February which called on them to resist 'narratives that discriminate' against refugees, the Pope's address given in Dublin on clerical abuse scandals was called 'disappointing' by one abuse survivor. The pontiff visited Ireland for two days in August 2018, which included a visit to Knock shrine in Co Mayo, a meeting with victims of clerical abuse, and a visit to a homeless centre run by the Capuchin Fathers. The visit culminated in an open air Sunday Mass in Dublin's Phoenix Park, where pilgrims' attendance was a fraction of the million people who greeted Pope John Paul II at the same spot in 1979. Pope Francis arrives to attend the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families at Phoenix Park in Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland (PA) The legacy of church abuse cast a long shadow over the Pope's Irish visit, during which he addressed a litany of crimes by its institutions and members. During the Phoenix Park Mass, he asked for 'forgiveness for the abuses in Ireland' and for 'pardon for all the abuses committed in various types of institutions'. The visit prompted several demonstrations, including at a mass grave of infants at a former home for unmarried mothers in Co Galway, and at the Garden of Remembrances in Dublin. Colm O'Gorman, a survivor of clerical abuse and the former head of Amnesty International Ireland, organised the rally at the Garden of Remembrance to coincide with the Phoenix Park Mass. He said that it was initially dismissed that the Pope would address a series of abuse and mistreatment scandals by the Catholic Church, which he said would have been 'completely unacceptable'. 'People were contacting me saying it's really upsetting to think that that's all happening and there's no space for this to be acknowledged,' he told the PA news agency. 'This was not about protest, it's just about standing in solidarity with people who have been impacted or hurt in this way. And we ended up with 15,000 or 20,000 people at the event, which was powerful.' The Stand4Truth rally took place outside a former Magdalene laundry in Dublin as part of the demonstrations against clerical sex abuse to coincide with the visit to Ireland by Pope Francis (Aaron Chown/PA) He said the final part of the event involved a silent walk from Parnell Square to Sean McDermott Street, the site of the last Magdalene Laundry to close. The notorious laundry institutions run by Catholic religious orders effectively incarcerated thousands of young women and forced them to work under harsh conditions. Mr O'Gorman described the silent walk as an 'extraordinary' show of 'powerful solidarity and purpose'. 'I'll never forget that silent walk, it was just incredibly powerful. Walking down O'Connell Street and turning left to head up towards Sean McDermott Street. And I was walking by, there was a hotel there at the time, and I heard the clink of somebody's spoon going into a coffee cup.' He said that during the Pope's visit to Dublin in 2018, there were 'massive gaps in the crowd', and that there were sections along the route that the Popemobile travelled where there was 'nobody lining the route'. 'He belted along there at a fair old pace, I think, as a result. That was an early indication of the wider response to the visit. Not that people were disinterested, but people were certainly not out there waving flags in the ways that might have been anticipated.' An aerial view of the crowd at Phoenix Park in Dublin during the Papal Mass (Liam McBurney/PA) He said that while he does not agree with Francis' stance on social issues, he said he has 'enormous regard' for his empathy towards refugees and migrants, and said he his stance on women's rights and LGBT+ issues were 'open and non-judgmental'. 'He called time on vitriolic, nasty marginalising approaches that have typified the response of the institutional church on these issues to these communities before now,' he said. A more liberal approach to social issues emphasised why his response to clerical abuse in Ireland was 'such a disappointment', according to Mr O'Gorman. 'Back to the beginning of his papacy, he's been exceptionally strong and good on issues relating to refugees and migrants. 'I can remember back in the early days of his of his papacy, him saying that every Roman Catholic parish should be welcoming and receiving a family of refugees. 'So to say we're aligned on that particular approach would be an understatement. Pope Francis leaving on an Aer Lingus aircraft from Dublin Airport back to the Vatican putting an end to his visit to Ireland (Joe Giddens/PA) 'To have him position that so powerfully at the very, very beginning of his papacy was really important. 'He's also visited prisons and washed the feet of prisoners, he's visited refugee detention centres and camps. 'He's made really powerful, important statements on on the dignity and the rights of refugees and of migrants, and I think he's been phenomenal in that respect.' He added: 'That dishonesty in relation to the history of abuse here in Ireland when he was coming here was such a disappointment, and the suggestion that he simply wasn't in any way going to deal with that issue when he was here was just deeply, deeply frustrating. 'I have yet to see a papal apology for abuse anywhere, and it's always very frustrating when the statements that various Popes have made over the years are presented as an apology. 'What popes generally do – and that includes, sadly, Pope Francis – is they speak of their regret and sadness, or sorrow at the hurt caused to so many people. That's not an apology. It's an expression of sorrow. 'No Pope has ever done that (apologised). The Vatican has never, ever, ever acknowledged its central role in not just permitting these cover ups to happen, but in directing these cover ups.' Read More Pope Francis dies at age of 88, Vatican announces
