NEW ALLEGATIONS have emerged of abuse carried out by members of the
Spiritans religious congregation, including while they were in ministry
at schools in Africa.
The order has said the accounts of several
victims contained in today’s coverage are consistent with reports they
have received about named priests.
The leading religious
congregations in Ireland expressed “profound regret”, saying the content
of the reports “is consistent with complaints that we have received
about the individual priests mentioned”.
The congregation runs
some of the best-known schools in Ireland, including Blackrock College,
St Mary’s, Templeogue College and St Michael’s in Dublin, as well as
Rockwell College in Co Tipperary.
While it could not “comment on
the specifics of the allegations” put to it, a spokesman said they
“deeply regret not only the abuse that has been inflicted by any member
of the province on individual victims, whether in Ireland or overseas,
but also the failings on the part of the province in the way we received
or dealt with some complaints”.
It was “particularly conscious that
some incidents of abuse by members of our province outside of Ireland
may not have been brought to our attention”.
The congregation spokesman said: “We will be moving to address this issue in the next phase of our safeguarding work.”
Reports
in today’s Irish Times detail child abuse allegations against Fr Henry
Moloney arising from his time at Christ the King College (CKC), Bo,
Sierra Leone, between 1973 and 1979. Fr Moloney, who resides at the
congregation’s Kimmage Manor in Dublin, was sentenced in 2000 and 2009
for abusing four boys at St Mary’s College between 1968 and 1973, the
years immediately before his appointment to CKC in Sierra Leone.
In
1979 he returned from Sierra Leone to Blackrock College and was
appointed to Rockwell College in 1980. He was there until 1996, when he
was removed from ministry.
It has also emerged that, though under
supervision at Kimmage Manor, Fr Moloney had access to the internet and
in October 2010 posted entries on a blog.
Further allegations
reported today are against Fr Patrick Hannan when he was at St Teresa’s
secondary school for boys in Nairobi, Kenya, and Fr Christopher Meagher
at Rockwell College.
Concerns have also been reported about the
record of Fr Arthur Carragher in Nigeria, where he served for 17 years
before joining the teaching staff at St Marys College in 1969.
He
transferred to Toronto in 1971 but was accused by four men of abusing
them during his brief time in Dublin. In 2002 he admitted to abusing two
of the men, and they were paid compensation.
However, he remained in
ministry and died in Canada in 2011.
The review of the
congregation’s child protection practices was published on September 5th
last.
Conducted by the Catholic Church’s child protection watchdog, the
National Board for Safeguarding Children, it found that 142 abuse
allegations had been made against 47 Spiritan/Holy Ghost priests since
January 1st, 1975.