Easter Reflection by Philip Feddis
Philip is a victim / survivor of Spiritan child sexual abuse and member of Restore Together
Easter is a time for Spiritan priests to reflect on the adequacy of their response to child sex abuse
Easter is the most important time in the Catholic church year. It is a time for hope and renewal,
for spiritual reflection and contemplation of the sacrifice and suffering of Jesus and the
profound meaning of his resurrection.
For the Spiritan priests in Ireland, Easter will be a typically busy time between vigils, masses,
retreats and other ceremonies. At the centre of all these ceremonies and sermons will be the
words of Jesus and core Christian values such as compassion, justice, humility, contrition,
repentance and atonement.
The Spiritan priests will emphasise to their congregations that in order to do God’s will,
Christians must not just profess those values but must live them daily in everything they do.
Restore Together is an advocacy and support group for victims/ survivors of child sexual abuse
in Spiritan schools. Some of our group have suffered abuse. Those that have not are supporting
those that have been abused, whether or not they have even come forward yet, because they
need and deserve support and all of us want the Spiritans to do the right thing without further
delay.
Ours is a non-denominational group and does not advance a doctrinal agenda. Nonetheless,
having advocated with the Spiritans for many years on behalf of everyone who was abused, we
do wonder where we as victims/ survivors fit into the Spiritans’ practice of the core Christian
values that they preach.
the context
These are not abstract questions or musings. The backdrop is that for many years, decades in
some cases, we as victim/survivors have been reaching out to the Spiritans for justice.
Over the past few years, in consultation with us in Restore Together, the Spiritans have publicly
committed to a comprehensive six-point Restorative Programme which aims to bring some
measure of justice and practical help to victim/survivors. It is of course long overdue, but it is
nonetheless welcome.
Comprehensive and urgent delivery of the Restorative Programme would bring a measure of
justice to victim/survivors. The problem now, however, is that the Spiritans still haven’t
delivered on the Restorative Programme with the urgency required. We as victim/survivors are,
once again, still left waiting for justice, as we have been since we were children.
While two pillars of the Restorative Programme, Therapy/counselling and a Restorative Justice
process, are up and running and available to those who wish to avail of them, the next two vital
pillars of the programme, a comprehensive, victim-centred Redress Scheme and a Testimony
Gathering (truth-telling) project have still not been delivered and the Spiritans have made no
commitment to a start date for either. This is completely unacceptable to victim/survivors,
most of us are over 60, who have already waited far too long for justice.2
Urgent delivery is vital for the success of these Redress and Testimony programmes. They will
take time to deliver, years in fact, so they must start immediately. It is already too late for many
victim/survivors. Remaining victim/survivors are suffering for every day the redress scheme in
particular is delayed. Restore Together has made this point repeatedly to the Spiritans over the
the past two years.
the sin
Can there be a more profound sin than the sin of sexual abuse perpetrated against a
defenceless child, particularly by a priest/ religious person?
We in Restore Together hear from victim/survivors of abuse in Spiritan schools on a daily basis.
We hear of their heartbreaking experiences as children and their suffering through their adult
lives. We hear of the damage caused by their abuse. Damage to themselves and their families.
Most victim/survivors are advanced in age. A constant refrain is that victim/survivors are tired.
We are tired of being ignored and marginalised. We are tired of feeling betrayed and abandoned
by institutions that were supposed to protect and care for us as children. We are tired of having
to fight and push the Spiritans every step of the way to fully and comprehensively face up to the
issue of child sex abuse in their schools and “do the right thing”
. We are tired of being told we
will have to wait. From a victim/survivor perspective the historic power imbalance that we as
victim/survivors experienced as children and which facilitated our abuse is still present and
underpinning the current situation. This compounds the suffering of victim/survivors and has to
be ended for once and for all. The Spiritans must take all immediate steps to bring justice to
victim/survivors without having to be pushed every step of the way to do so.
The call to reflect
This Easter, in the spirit of reflection, renewal and hope, victim/survivors of sexual abuse in
Spiritan schools would like the Spiritan order and, in particular, every individual Spiritan priest
to hear the voices of victim/survivors and reflect on the adequacy of the Spiritan response to
the issue of child sex abuse. In hearing that call, Spiritan priests should consider whether their
own individual response and that of their congregation has been informed by and lived the core
Christian values of compassion, justice, humility, repentance, contrition and atonement.
In particular, Spiritan priests might reflect on the extent to which they, as individual priests and
the Order to which they belong, have;
- Shown true compassion to the victim/survivors which requires Christians to put others first
in their thoughts, words and deeds
- brought Christian justice to victim/survivors
- Shown true humility in their response to victim/survivors
- truly repented for the sin of child sex abuse, by adopting a new way of thinking about their
sin and those hurt by it, by bringing a new, victim-centred, not self-centred, way of thinking
to the issue and their response to victim/survivors.
- shown true contrition at the deep level of heart and manifested this through their actions.3
- truly made atonement for the enormous harm caused by the sin of child sexual abuse, by
responding adequately and comprehensively to victim/survivors and making amends to the
greatest extent they can for that sin.
The common thread of each of these Christian values when applied to the response to the issue
of child sexual abuse in Spiritan schools is that they require putting the interests of
victim/survivors first in every thought, word and deed. If that is done, the Christian and just
response to the issue reveals itself and all perceived obstacles to a comprehensive response
will be removed.
The victim/survivor experience of the lived values
In recent times, as the Spiritans have finally confronted and admitted to the abuse, we as
victim/survivors have been given kind words, sympathy and promises, many of which remain
unfulfilled. Victim/survivors have, however, never seen evidence of a fundamental shift in
mindset by the Spiritans as envisaged by the concept of Christian repentance. We have not
seen a sustained, uncompromising and relentless determination to do everything possible to
help them and bring them true Christian justice for the terrible harm they have suffered and
continue to suffer.
Our experience is that the Spiritans have failed at every stage, from the time of the abuse
onwards, to put the interests and rights of victim/survivors first. The Spiritans have invariably
put their interests, needs and concerns and those of the institution first.
The victim/survivor experience is not one of compassion from the Spiritans. Victim/survivors
feel frustrated, disappointed, angry and worse. The ongoing delay in implementing the
comprehensive Restorative Programme has increased the suffering of victim/survivors in many
ways. It is not compassionate, it is cruel.
Is the Spiritan response to victim/survivors one of compassion and true Christian justice?
Repeated institutional failure to respond appropriately, both at the time of abuse and
afterwards is not just. It is profoundly unjust. It perpetuates and amplifies the enormous harm
done to the victims of abuse as children. Decades after the initial abuse, victim/survivors are
reminded daily that the power imbalance which terrorised them as children is still being
exercised over them every day. The Spiritans, by their failure to respond adequately and
comprehensively, are telling the adult victim/survivor, and the little child he carries within him,
to wait over in the corner, the Spiritans will dispense justice of their choosing at the time of their
choosing. The Spiritans are telling the victim/survivor that their organisational interests and
operational difficulties are more important than him, his experience and his current needs.
All sorts of reasons are trotted out as to why things can’t be done quicker or differently, as if
they are circumstances and difficulties beyond the control of the Spiritans rather than the result
of conscious and deliberate choices by the Spiritans which could have been long overcome by
now if there had been a will to do so. How can this be considered to be a compassionate
response bringing true Christian justice?
In his book, “Jesus, Social Revolutionary”, Fr Peter McVerry talks about how the parable of the
Good Samaritan illustrates the central importance of compassion for Christians. He stresses
however, that it is much more than just a story about being kind to someone who needs help.
He points out that the parable is told in response to a very specific question put to Jesus of what4
a person “must do to inherit eternal life”. The lesson of the parable is that the one thing that is
most important to God above everything else is compassion. Denial of compassion is denial of
God himself.
But there is, of course, more to the story. Fr McVerry explores this and asks, “Why does Luke
pick a priest and a Levite as the two characters to pass by? Were they just the first two role
models that came into his head? Hardly. Luke composes his stories very carefully. Luke
chooses the priest and the Levite precisely because they observed the Law. They considered
themselves righteous and were looked up to by the rest of society as righteous precisely
because of their observance of the Law. They were considered close to God, friends of God, in
God’s favour. But for Jesus, there was no place for them in the Kingdom of God because they
failed in compassion”
Responding according to the teaching of Jesus; a gospel-based approach
Guidance for Spiritans as to what they must do to adequately address the issue of child sexual
abuse in their schools is not just set out in the bible. Towards Peace is a church-funded
spiritual support service to survivors of clerical sexual abuse. In 2022 they prepared a
comprehensive paper pointing out the failures of the clerical institutions’ traditional approach
to the issue of child sexual abuse and setting out Gospel-based principles for clerical
institutions to take a new approach to responding to clerical sexual abuse and to
victim/survivors.
The submission opens with a call to the Church to hear “the prophetic voice of survivors” so as
to “renew the Church that failed to protect children and continues to fail survivors”.
Its central message to religious institutions is that they must adopt a “gospel-based approach
to dealing with abuse within the Church”.
To do this will require the institutions “setting aside considerations such as the reputation of the
institution, money and financial assets, and status and power, in order to encounter survivors at
a human level and respond to them as Jesus responded to those he met in the course of his
ministry”.
The submission references the past, failed and inadequate responses to abuse, characterised
by “the willingness of Church officials to sacrifice survivors for what they considered to be the
good of the Church”. It asserts that a “humbler Church, and one less pre-occupied with its
financial assets, might be better placed to respond appropriately to those who disclose abuse”.
In conclusion, it pointed out that Jesus reached out to those “on the margins”. “The Church
must do the same and invite those who have been abused to come forward and tell their
stories”
In summary, “Church leaders must make different choices. When faced with an allegation, they
must refer, in the first instance, to the gospel, not the lawyers”.
The Church must also “atone for the sins of abuse…... Words that are carefully chosen and
spoken with sincerity and humility help, but they are not enough. They have to be accompanied
by actions to repair the damage done.”
“There must be a commitment to truth, accountability and transparency in relation to the issue
of abuse and how it is dealt with in the Church”5
Urgent and immediate completion of the Restorative Programme
Restore Together recently called on the Spiritans to finalise the Redress Scheme without further
delay and have it up and running no later than 1 June this year. The Spiritans have not
responded to this call. We in Restore Together have been more than patient. Restore Together
has been in discussions with the Spiritans and their lawyers about the terms of a redress
scheme for over two years and are more than satisfied that the Spiritans have the financial
means to start it straight away, if they had the will to do so.
What can the Spiritans learn from the parable of Zaccheus? Zaccheus was a sinner and tax-
collector who heard Jesus and was moved to find the appropriate response to his sins.
Zaccheus did not have to be dragged or forced to make amends. He did not have to consult
extensively with his lawyers and other advisers before deciding what to do. The initiative and
drive to make amends came from Zaccheus himself. “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my
possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times
the amount.”
As [one commentator has noted] “Zaccheus felt that the possession of so much wealth, and the
power that went with it, was in itself part of the problem that had corrupted him.
Zaccheus act of generosity goes further than just monetary restoration, it helps to restore the
relational damage between him and the person he has sinned against, and then further,
restoring the self-esteem of the victim, and further still, giving in excess, for the joy of giving and
of receiving.
Any redress scheme in a church context that seeks to minimise reparations due, or to preserve
the wealth of the offender, will be missing this vital element of excessive, joyful generosity. The
church should approach the business of redress with joy and open-handed generosity. And if
there are margins of error, they must fall to the benefit of the victim. “
In their recent statement on their response to child sexual abuse in their schools, the Jesuits
recognised that they had failed to “respond adequately”
.
Restore Together acknowledges that the Spiritans have not completely failed to respond to the
issue of child sex abuse in their schools or to victim/survivors. The crucial point, however, is
that they have failed to do so adequately and appropriately, at every stage from when the child
sex abuse was first happening, to the different times when it was reported, and right up to today
and the delays in implementing the Restorative Programme.
From a victim/survivor perspective, the failures of the Spiritans are essentially failures of
understanding and a failure of will. At every stage, the Spiritans’ first thought has been of
themselves. They have never consistently put the interests and needs of victim/survivors ahead
of their own. Those most fundamental failings have in turn led to their failure to think of
victim/survivors first, consistently speak out in humility and support for victim/survivors and
adequately respond to the scourge of child sex abuse in their schools and the needs of
victim/survivors.
Living the Gospel and teaching of Jesus
Again from a victim/survivor perspective, the Spiritans’ failure to show true compassion to
victim/survivors and bring them Christian justice has implications for Spiritan mission and6
moral authority. How can the Spiritans preach the values of compassion, justice and humility to
others until/unless they have practised them in relation to victim/survivors?
Of course, this may not be easy for Spiritans. But that is not the point. Living with the experience
of having been abused is extremely difficult for victim/survivors. Surely, the true test of our
Christianity and our human values does not arise when things are easy, but when they are hard.
The Spiritans are being tested now. We as victim/survivors would like them to reflect deeply on
how they are doing in that test.
When the Apostles were tested after Jesus’ crucifixion and Ascension, they were in hiding and
afraid. It was the Holy Spirit that descended upon them to give them courage to go out proclaim
the teachings of Jesus again.
For years now, victim/survivors have been calling on the Spiritans to find that courage and
compassion within themselves and urgently and comprehensively address the issue of child
sex abuse. If the Spiritans can truly put the victim/survivors at the centre of their thoughts and
put their interests ahead of their own, they will find that they are quickly able to find a way past
any perceived obstacles to implement all elements of the Restorative Programme and help in
some way victim/survivors’ ongoing recovery from the terrible harm inflicted on them as
children.
Easter would be perfect time for the Spiritans to urgently reflect, renew and finally and urgently
bring justice to victim/survivors of abuse in their schools.
ENDS
About Restore Together
Restore Together is an advocacy group for victims of sexual abuse in Spiritan schools. It is
made up of victim/survivors and non-victims. Together we advocate on behalf of
victim/survivors for the provision of structures to aid healing from trauma. So far it has
supported over 300 victims/ survivors of sexual abuse suffered while attending Spiritan
schools.
Restore Together is working with the Spiritan Order to bring healing to those who suffered as
children and continue to suffer as adults through a professionally guided and administered
programme of Restorative Justice.
Restore Together’s objectives for all victim/survivors are: TRUTH – JUSTICE – PEACE –
RECONCILIATION – HEALING.
The Spiritan schools involved are Blackrock College and Willow Park, Rockwell College, St.
Mary’s College, St. Michael’s College and Templeogue College
More information on supports for victims of abuse can be found HERE