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Alleged Blackrock College sex abuse victims claim
paedophile ring operated there
A caller to Liveline recalled a cleric lying naked on a bed of silk sheets
Blackrock College (Image: Colin Keegan, Collins, Dublin)
Alleged sex abuse victims at one of the country’s most exclusive schools have claimed a paedophile ring operated there.
The claims were made after two past pupils, Mark Ryan, 61, and his brother David, 58, revealed their nightmare ordeals on RTE radio. The Irish Mirror reported yesterday how 57 alleged victims made historical child sex abuse claims against clerics at Blackrock College in South Dublin.
Alleged victims recalled their experiences on RTE’s Liveline show, with some claiming that a paedophile ring operated within the religious Holy Ghost Order that founded the school. David said: “They knew what was going on, but they brushed it under the carpet.”
A caller to Liveline recalled a cleric lying naked on a bed of silk sheets, while another said photographs of the victims were produced in co-operation between more than two people. David added: “The priest would take pictures of the lower half of my body.”
The priest warned David: “If you tell anybody, there will be consequences.” Victim support charity One In Four’s chief Maeve Lewis revealed on Liveline that abuse victims contacted the group throughout yesterday in need of support because of the allegations revealed in RTE’s documentary on Monday night.
Abuses at the prestigious school operated by the Holy Ghost Order, which is now known as the Irish Spiritans, date back to the 1970s. A spokesperson for the RTE documentary said: “The true number of children who were sexually abused on the grounds of Blackrock College is unknown.”
A total of 230 alleged victims across Ireland have accused 77 clerics of the Spiritans of abuse. The Spiritans, which has already paid out €5million in compensation to victims since 2004, is now braced for more allegations following the RTE broadcast. The heartbreaking accounts by brothers Mark and David were broadcast for the first time on RTE Radio 1 in its award-winning Documentary on One series.
They revealed that they were repeatedly sexually abused in the grounds of Blackrock College from the ages of 12 to 17. Mark’s abuse started when he joined the school aged 12. When he turned 14, another priest joined in the abuse.
French cardinal says he abused 14-year-old girl 35 years ago
One of France’s high-ranking prelates of the Catholic Church, Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, says that he had abused a 14-year-old girl 35 years ago and is withdrawing from his religious duties
By The Associated Press
November 7, 2022, 10:29 AM
PARIS -- Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, one of France's highest-ranking prelates of the Catholic Church, said Monday that he had abused a 14-year-old girl 35 years ago and is withdrawing from his religious duties.
Which he should have done 35 years ago.
The move comes after a report issued last year revealed a large number of child sex abuse cases within the French Catholic Church.
“Thirty-five years ago, when I was a priest, I behaved in a reprehensible way with a young girl aged 14,” Ricard said in a written statement.
“My behavior has inevitably caused serious and lasting consequences for this person,” he said.
Ricard, 78, used to be the archbishop of Bordeaux, in southwestern France, until he retired from that position in 2019 to serve in his home diocese of Dignes-les-Bains, in the south of the country. In the 1980s, he was a priest in the archdiocese of Marseille.
The announcement was made Monday at a news conference by the president of the French bishops’ conference, Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort.
Moulins-Beaufort said a total of 11 bishops and former bishops, including Ricard, have been targeted by accusations in relation with sex abuse in diverse cases investigated by French justice or church authorities.
Ricard said he had talked to the victim and asked her for forgiveness, without specifying when. He said he was also asking for forgiveness “to all those I hurt" through his statement. He did not elaborate on that.
At times when the French Catholic Church has just started to pay financial compensation to victims of child sexual abuse, Ricard said he decided “not to stay silent anymore about (his) situation” and that he was available for the country’s justice and for church authorities.
The broad study released last year by an independent commission estimated that some 330,000 children were sexually abused over 70 years by priests or other church-related figures in France.
The tally included an estimated 216,000 people abused by priests and other clerics, and the rest by church figures such as scout leaders and camp counselors. The estimates were based on broader research by France’s National Institute of Health and Medical Research into sexual abuse of children.
The report described a “systemic” coverup by church officials and urged the French Catholic Church to respect the rule of law in France.
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