Bishop Leo O'Reilly has defended the work of the religious in Ireland against one-sided negative media reports in the wake of the Ryan Report. The Bishop of Kilmore said he hoped the ''enormous good'' done by the religious in Ireland would not be forgotten when history books are being written.
Speaking at a homily to mark the closure of the Presentation Convent in Bailieboro, Co. Cavan, Dr O'Reilly said the media reaction to the report had given the impression that the story of religious life in Ireland ''was one of unmitigated evil and abuse''.
Evil exposed
But, on the contrary, Bishop O'Reilly said, the evil exposed in Justice Ryan's investigation into the abuse of children in industrial schools was ''an aberration and an exception'' to religious life in Ireland.
Quoting Shakespeare, he said: '''The evil that men do lives after them, the good is oft interred with their bones.' Let that not be the case with the religious of Ireland.''
He continued: ''When the story of religious life in Ireland comes to be written, I hope that it will not forget the good, the enormous good, that was done quietly, secretly, unselfishly, generously and constantly, by so many devoted and dedicated sisters.''
Two institutions where the abuse was revealed by the Ryan Report - St Francis's in Cashel and St Bernard's in Tipperary - were run by the Presentation Sisters.
Involvement
The order still has strong involvement in dozens of primary and post-primary schools in the State and works in counselling, palliative care and hospital chaplaincy.
There are 726 sisters in 122 communities around Ireland but there are currently no novices in training.
The closure of the Presentation Convent in Bailieboro, will mark the ending of the order's presence in Co. Cavan, where it first established a noviciate in 1945. An aging profile and lack of vocations were cited as the reason for the closure.
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