The Reward of Failure

John Dardis SJ and the Marmion cover-up

(Photo: Jesuits Ireland)

When a corporation or an organisation screws up, there is generally a concerted effort to find out who was responsible. This person is then sacked, demoted or publicly admonished. In the Jesuits, he gets promoted. This is the story of John Dardis SJ who was a few years ahead of me at Belvedere, although I never knew him.

RTE’s Drivetime aired an important story by journalist Barry Lenihan on 3 October 2024 concerning a senior Jesuit in the Society’s Curia in Rome. You can listen here

John Dardis SJ was Provincial of the Irish Jesuits in 2004 when I revealed that Joseph Marmion SJ – without naming him – was a predatory paedophile and a violent bully. He prepared a statement to be issued if my story gained traction in the media. In the event, it didn’t and the Jesuits simply kept their heads down.

They were eventually forced, by a former classmate of mine, to admit the truth in 2021. Some of those upon whom Marmion preyed could have been helped in 2004 and were beyond help by 2021. Years of suffering could have been alleviated had the Jesuits had the decency to admit what they knew when Dardis drafted that statement.

And despite the shameful nature of this, the Jesuits and some former pupils appear to revel in the notion that the Order has been clear and open, that it has always been concerned with the truth. This is nonsense. The Jesuits had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, to acknowledge that they had harboured, fostered and protected even, the vile character that was Joseph Marmion SJ.

John Dardis SJ went on to great things after his Provincialate. Some say that he may be in the running to become “the black pope” i.e. the global head of the Society of Jesus, although his handling of the Marmion affair may have scuppered his hopes, or at least handicapped him in the race.

His current titles is General Counsellor for Discernment and Apostolic Planning, having also been Director of Communications in the General Curia of the Society of Jesus until earlier this year.

In March 2024 he addressed a meeting of international delegates who had travelled to Rome for a meeting of the Jesuit Initiative to Promote a Culture of Safety and Protection. The jokes, none of them in particularly good taste, write themselves.

The Irish Jesuits gave the following statement to RTE when approached for comment: “It is our understanding that John Dardis SJ was sharing the learnings from his experience in Ireland with participants at the conference in Rome. The same applies to his work in the Jesuit Curia in Rome, where as Director of Communications, he brought insights he learned in Ireland to the work he has been doing over the past years in Italy.”

I won’t comment on the comment. It speaks for itself.