A 1,100-page report last year by the Deetman commission – chaired by former education minister Wim Deetman
– shocked the country when it revealed some 800 Catholic priests and
monks abused up to 20,000 children in their care between 1945 and 1985.
It
said the abuse took place in boarding schools, children’s homes and
orphanages, but was not openly acknowledged by the church authorities at
the time because of their “culture of silence” and determination “not
to hang out their dirty washing”.
Investigators were shocked by the scale of
the abuse – in one institution 40 girls under the age of 12 died of
abuse, neglect or both over a three-year period in the 1950s – but said
they believed there were many untold stories.
The
Klokk foundation, an umbrella organisation representing 12 victims’
groups, has set up the online confessional on its website for abusers
who want to begin coming to terms with their crimes.