The Spiritan Congregation has set up a restorative justice programme comprised of independent experts to engage with survivors of historical abuse at schools and institutions run by the congregation.
The religious order, formerly known as the Holy Ghost Fathers, has also issued a fresh apology to survivors.
“What was done to you as innocent children was cruel and indefensible. We are deeply ashamed of these actions,” head of the Spiritans in Ireland Fr Martin Kelly said.
Earlier, the Blackrock College Union, representing past pupils at the south Dublin school, called for a “full inquiry” into sexual abuse that took place at both the senior college and its junior school Willow Park.
Sexual abuse of children by priests was known ‘at all levels’ in Catholic Church, says Archbishop of Dublin
Spiritan abuse survivor group raises concern statutory inquiry could set back justice and support programmes
Catholic Church child protection board received 252 abuse allegations
German Protestant churches riddled with sexual abuse and cover-ups, report finds
In his statement on Wednesday, the provincial of the Spiritans Fr Kelly said: “On behalf of the Spiritan Congregation in Ireland, I want to express my deepest and most sincere sorrow to every person who was abused by a member of the Spiritans, or by a staff member, in any of our schools. I sincerely apologise for this. What was done to you as innocent children was cruel and indefensible. We are deeply ashamed of these actions.
“Secondly, failure to act promptly resulted in children being abused who could have been protected had corrective action been taken earlier. I also acknowledge that failure on our part and apologise for it.
“I want to encourage anybody who was abused by a member of the Spiritans or a lay member of staff in our schools, at any time, to come forward and contact us. I want to go further; any notion that those who suffered were ‘weak’ in some way and share some element of blame for whatever happened to them is completely and utterly wrong.
“As the leader of the Spiritans in Ireland today I want to banish any such idea and promise all victims that the full process we’re announcing today wants to hear from you.”
He added: “I would like to assure everyone that there are in place, and have been for many years, all the appropriate policies and procedures for the safeguarding of children in all Spiritan schools to ensure, as far as is humanly possible, that such abuse will not happen again to children in our care. We would like to assure everybody that all our communities apply rigorous standards for child safeguarding as laid down by the Child and Family Agency (Tusla), the Department of Education and Skills, the Catholic Church in Ireland, and the Congregation’s own policy.
“We always cooperate with the statutory authorities (An Garda Síochána and Tusla) in their investigation of any reports of abuse that we receive.”
He said anyone who wished to engage with the restorative justice programme should contact its facilitator Tim Chapman at info@timchapman.eu while Liam Lally of the Spiritan safeguarding office can be contacted at liam.lally@spiritanplt.ie
“My sincere hope is that anybody who has been abused while in our care will ask for and receive the help they need.”
“We owe a deep debt of gratitude to the group of past pupils from Blackrock College who took the initiative to approach us two years ago and who’ve worked patiently with us in the interim, in the process showing great care and concern for their fellow past pupils,” Fr Kelly added.
In a statement earlier on Wednesday, the Blackrock College Union said: “We have listened to our members who are quite rightly shocked and who are demanding answers as to how this occurred.
“We believe these answers can only be achieved through a full inquiry which should be independent, transparent with published findings.
“This process should have the best interests of survivors as its paramount consideration and should be concluded as a matter of urgency. Anything less would be a further injustice to all those who are deeply affected by these disclosures,” said the union’s president, solicitor John O’Doherty, in a statement posted its website.
The union of 8,000 past pupils of the fee-paying college had previously cancelled its annual business lunch in solidarity with the survivors of abuse.
The principals of Blackrock College, Willow Park 1st Year and Willow Park Junior School issued a joint letter on the Blackrock College website committing themselves, as current guardians of the schools, to “every word” of Fr Kelly’s apology.
“A school must, first and foremost, be a place of complete safety for children of all ages. That this most fundamental tenet was breached by members of the staff in both Blackrock and Willow, is something we, as an institution, must acknowledge,” said the statement from Alan MacGinty, Alan Rogan and James Docherty.
The Sexual Crime Management Unit at the Garda National Protective Services Bureau confirmed that it has received six contacts from individuals over the last week. The unit is the central point of contact for referrals on an ongoing basis from religious orders throughout the country via designated liaison persons.
The Government said it has had some “preliminary discussions” about an inquiry into the “sickening, shocking nature of abuse at Blackrock College”, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said.
In an email sent to all members, Mr O’Doherty said the Blackrock Union Committee, working with the representatives of the survivors, is providing awareness, support and information on its website, rockunion.ie
“The Union will continue to work with representatives of the survivors to provide tangible examples of support into the future,” he said in the email.
“We encourage anyone who has been affected by such abuse to seek the appropriate advice and assistance and so future support may involve Union events specifically aimed at raising victim awareness.”
Members will be updated shortly on further plans to support survivors, he added.
On its website, the union has posted a notice expressing its “deepest sympathy and solidarity” with all past pupils who were subject to sexual abuse while attending the college.
Speaking in the Dáil on Tuesday, Mr Martin told TDs, however, that “it’s one thing to call for an inquiry” but “it’s a completely different narrative” to develop a “bespoke model” inquiry that “meets the needs of victims and survivors but also the needs to get resolution”.
But Mr Martin believed it would be of benefit to discuss the issue on the floor of the Dáil and next week “might be a better time”.
Calls were made for a debate on the abuse in the prestigious private school run by the Spiritan order, formerly the Holy Ghost Fathers, in the wake of an RTÉ documentary.
The congregation has disclosed that 233 men have made allegations of abuse against 77 Irish priests from the religious order in Ireland and overseas and 57 of those former students alleged they were abused on the Blackrock College campus.
Since 2004 more than €5 million has been paid out in settlement of abuse claims, including 12 connected to the college.
