DOCUMENTS uncovered during the investigation into child abuse prove the Christian Brothers were aware that sexual abuse of children in their care had occurred at an "unacceptably high" level, the child abuse report reveals.The congregation was the largest provider of residential care in the country with more allegations against it than all the male religious orders combined, according to the report.
It reveals that the "Rome Files" -- archives which came to the attention of the brothers themselves during the commission's investigations -- made it impossible to contend that the issue of abuse and, in particular, child sexual abuse of boys, was not an urgent and continuing concern to the congregation.
"In circumstances where the issue of abuse in institutions had been the object of so much media attention from 1995 onwards, it is surprising that these files were only discovered to the committee in 2004.
"The scale of the problem as revealed in these documents was very serious. When other features of abuse are taken into account, there is reason to believe that the amount of such abuse was substantially greater than is disclosed in these records".
"In the light of the investigations that had taken place in other jurisdictions and the evidence contained in their own archives, together with the complaints received, the leadership team in this country could be in no doubt that sexual abuse of children in their care had occurred at an unacceptably high level in their institutions."
Although it was legitimate to protest about exaggerated allegations and false claims which were undoubtedly made in some instances, it was also the case that an attitude of scepticism and distrust of all complaints was "unwarranted and unjust".
Between 1990 and 1996 the brothers received about 30 allegations of child abuse. A further 52 complaints were received between 1996 and the brothers public apology in March 1998.
While the congregation claimed it had great difficulty coming to terms with the fact that brothers could have abused children, it was difficult to understand why such allegations should have come as such a shock, according to the report.
"The documentation made available to this committee disclosed that allegations of child abuse, and particularly child sexual abuse, were a recurring and persistent problem for the congregation."
'Odyssey'
The brothers' account of their "odyssey" on abuse, particularly sexual and physical, traced their journey from shock and dismay at the allegations, through a period of acceptance.
This gave way ultimately to scepticism and suspicion which were the characteristics of the stance taken by the congregation in the investigation committee's proceedings.
Questioning the brothers March 1998 public apology over abuse, the report says it was not at all apparent what conduct was regretted.
Instead of making clear the congregation's regret for abuse that had happened in its institutions, the apology gave rise to problems of interpretation and called into question the nature of their attitude to the complaints.
"Indeed, it was not even clear that the statement could properly be called an apology."
Highlighting the congregation's failure to train brothers in childcare until the early 1970s, the report says that fear of change "ensured that the institutions run by the Christian Brothers remained, in all essential respects, unchanged from their foundation in the 19th century to their closure".
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