A report is scheduled for release today detailing the abuse heaped on children at Catholic institutions in Ireland during the twentieth century.
According to the AP:
The Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse will release a 2,575-page report in an attempt at a comprehensive portrait of sexual, physical and emotional damage inflicted on children consigned to the country's defunct network of reformatories, workhouses, orphanages and other church-run institutions from the 1930s to 1990s.
Kids ended up in these institutions usually because they were born to unwed mothers or committed petty crimes.
Adding insult to injury, the most offensive religious groups fought the investigation tooth and nail.
The Christian Brothers delayed the investigation for more than a year with a lawsuit that successfully defended their members' right to anonymity in all references in the report — even in cases where individual Christian Brothers have already been convicted of sexual and physical attacks on children.
Prime Minister Bertie Ahern established the fact finding commission in 1999. A panel has already issued compensation of approximately 90,000 Euros to 12,000 victims. Unfortunately, the bulk of that was paid by the taxpayers and not the Catholic Church.
No comments:
Post a Comment