Jesuit Perestroika
Will the Society of Jesus come clean?
Well, will the Society of Jesus in Ireland come clean about the child abusers it has harboured since 1945? One imagines it would be what Jesus Himself would do, but the Order may not let that stand in its way.
It has admitted the crimes of Joseph Marmion SJ, reluctantly and only when a metaphorical gun was put to its head by Donal Ballance. It has also admitted that Paul Andrews SJ, Marmion’s oldest friend, was not just a child psychologist but also a paedophile. It’s not entirely clear if the Jesuits suddenly decided that this was the right thing to do or if, once again, they concluded that the game was up. I revealed elsewhere on Substack that credible accusations of child sexual abuse had been made against Andrews, so there was a choice between admitting it or keeping the collective head down. You can read more about this in DENY EVERYTHING - The Life and Crimes of Joseph Marmion SJ on my Substack.
The Jesuits have acknowledged that several accusations of child sexual abuse against Dermot Casey SJ, of St Declan’s Special School, have been received. Casey, Andrews and Marmion are the only ones to be named amongst the 43 - or is it now 45? - Jesuits against whom credible accusations have been made. That unholy trinity now lie together in the Jesuit plot in Glasnevin Cemetery and most of the rest do too. At most, a handful are still alive.
I am told that the Jesuits have appointed three advisors, one a current or former member of Judiciary, to consider the question of naming the whole lot. In the words of a former Provincial, to get all the dirty linen out in the open. My guess is that they will advise that doing so will cause considerable distress to the abusers’ families and that this consideration outweighs the argument that honesty and openness is the best policy.
I hope I am proven wrong. We shall see.
Thanks Tom.
Fine fare as always.
The Js used to have the casuistry hashtag, clever but dubious arguments, car salesmen with dog collars. You’d think there might be some bright young novitiate in the media relations team that would figure out how much more good publicity the order would get by full disclosure. All the names, all the mea culpa apologies. But there seems to be something particularly shameful for them about their abuse of children in their care, something that freezes them - trauma?
All the more reason to acknowledge you and Donal Ballance for giving them a choice of only a worse outcome if they did not act.
Too bad about Glasnevin Cemetery housing the bones of the damned along with those of the innocent.
P.
Dear Tom D,
Thank you for this update. As ever, it is very well written.
I like the analogy you make with the Jesuits of today, 2024, and the Soviet Communists of the 1980’s. Perhaps ‘glasnost’ (ie transparency) rather than ‘perestroika’ (ie restructuring) is closer to the meaning you intended. However, I must confess that my Russian is fairly rusty. Indeed, these are the only two words of Russian I ever knew.
Your outlining of the apparatchik obduracy of the Jesuits - which exists with other Orders - is well made. I would recommend to anyone interested in this area to read your book on Joseph Marmion. It’s a revealing story which is written in such a fair-minded way that renders it very moving. Unusual for me, I cried while reading it.
Just a further reflection/thought
In contrast to you and the likes of Donal Ballance, I only became involved with trying to expose clerical child sex in November 2022. So I am very new to this. In my case, it pertains to the Vincentian Order at Castleknock College. So there is a danger of someone joining things late in the day proposing something that is all too ‘’dull, stale, flat and unprofitable’’ - to quote from another chap who was preoccupied with the unacknowledged putridness of certain things.
However, from reading this latest piece of yours, it brings home how important it is, that the Jesuits and other Orders are not allowed to present their ongoing concealment as being in the ‘interests of survivors/victims’ as you state they might try. They have no right to speculate as what is in our ‘interests’. We decide that. Such a callous and devious manoeuvre needs to be called out and ideally headed off at the pass.
A shot across the bows
Should you and/or others such as Donal Ballance, David Ryan and hopefully others from the likes of Terenure College or wherever, wish to contact the media to denounce such humbug, I would happily sign such a letter. Indeed the more names openly signing such a letter the better I suspect. I would encourage others to reach out to lend their names and support to such a joint endeavour.
Thank you again Tom D for your fine contribution on this matter.
Tom (Maher)
Castleknock College (1974-80) Vincentian Order