The diocese would wish to offer no excuses, only an apology

The diocese would wish to offer no excuses, only an apology

17 December 2014

THE Diocese of Down and Connor has admitted “very evil” men infiltrated Rubane House with “catastrophic” consequences.

In the frankest apology yet for abuse carried out at the Kircubbin home, Fr. Tim Bartlett said there were “no excuses” to be made.

In his evidence to the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry in Banbridge — after which he embraced victims — Fr. Bartlett acknowledged many failures in dealing with abuse allegations internally as well as a failure to report to outside authorities.

“The consequences, tragic and systemic, are accepted,” he said.

Lawyer to the inquiry, Joseph Aiken, took the Episcopal Vicar for Education at the Diocese through the history of abuse at the De La Salle run home outlined to the inquiry to date.

He began with several allegations against a Brother in 1958, which 

saw him moved out of Rubane and into a school in Downpatrick. He highlighted accepted abuse that took place in 1964 involving a Brother the De La Salle Order noted was “a positive danger to young boys” and referred to allegations from the 1970s when abuse claims were not reported to Rubane’s governing body or passed on to incoming heads.

Fr. Bartlett accepted that multiple failures in dealing with abuse allegations had exacerbated the tragedy.

“I don’t think we can be left with any other fundamental view,” he said. “Fundamentally these were catastrophic failures that are so far removed from the ideal that the diocese would wish personally to offer no excuses at this stage only an apology.

“People made very fundamental mistakes and some very evil people capitalised on that, manipulatively used that for the most grotesque ends.”

Mr. Aiken, who has estimated one in five children were abused at Rubane, asked the priest if he was shocked at the volume of complaints.

“Yes, simply yes,” he said. “We are totally shocked at the scale of this.”

Fr. Bartlett went on to discuss the damage done in Rubane to already damaged children.

“It struck me personally that a lot of very vulnerable young people came into our care,” he said. “We took responsibility to provide protection and they were faced with even more fear...far, far too many.

“We should offer nothing other than an apology and take responsibility for our failures.”

Victims campaigner, Margaret McGuckin, of Survivors and Victims of Institutional Abuse (SAVIA) was among those to greet Fr. Bartlett warmly afterwards at the back of the court.

“I was not expecting it to be that frank,” she said of Fr. Bartlett’s evidence. “However, I don’t think he had any other place to go. There was no minimising today, no innuendo.

“I remember meeting him before and showing him photos of myself in the Sisters of Nazareth orphanage and it bringing tears to his eyes.”

Newcastle man Sam Adair, who has made several serious allegations of abuse at Rubane, was also surprised by the apology.

“This is the first priest’s hand I ever shook,” he said.

“I had not expected it to be as full as that. I thought parts would be non-committal.

“It was a full, frank, 100 per cent admission. I think he is a man who can relate and I was very happy with how that went.”