Passionist Response to the Review of Safeguarding Practice

We the Passionists of St Patrick’s Province have today published the Review by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland of our safeguarding practices. We wish to thank Ms Teresa Devlin CEO, the Board and the members of the Review Panel for their work in this regard. The Passionists welcome the findings of the Review and are committed to implementing the recommendations.

The Passionists sincerely apologise for the pain experienced by those who have been hurt by the abuse perpetrated by our members, and acknowledge the deep suffering of the survivors and their ongoing trauma. We are committed to continuing to support survivors and their families now and in the future.

The review report addresses allegations made against 20 members of the order over a period in excess of 60 years.  16 of those members are now deceased and one man left the congregation a long time ago. The Review Report makes 12 recommendations in relation to safeguarding, a number of which have already been implemented. The Passionists are committed to implementing the remaining recommendations within the next six months.

The Passionist response to the review is part of our renewed determination to ensure that the past failings will not be repeated in the future and that children and young people will be safe in all aspects of their engagement with the Passionist Communities and Parishes.

We encourage anyone who has not previously reported their abuse to come forward at this time. The Passionists have a dedicated independent person to receive the reports, Suzanne Phelan tel: 085 1146391 (from NI 0035385 1146391). The statutory agencies contact details are as follows;

Garda

Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Investigation Unit, National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, 
Garda Headquarters, Harcourt Square, Dublin 2. Tel: 01 6663430

PSNI

Child Abuse Investigation Unit, 48 Queen St, Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh. Tel: 028 66321562

Tusla

Duty Social Worker, Child and Family Agency, Chamber House, Chamber Square, Tallaght, Dublin 24. 

Tel: 01 4866289

The Passionists are part of the Catholic Church’s response in supporting survivors of abuse. Towards Healing is the counselling and support service of the Catholic Church providing help top survivors and their families.  P.O. Box 5654, Dublin 14, Freephone Ireland 1800-303416 Freephone U.K. 0800-0963315 email: coordinator@towardshealing.ie.  Towards Peace is a service which offers spiritual support for survivors of abuse by Church personnel. The service is for those whose faith has been damaged by abuse and who wish to continue their search for meaning and for God. Phone: + 353 (0)1 5053028 or Mobile: + 353 (0)86 7710533