Former pupils at Jesuit schools speak of ‘panic, disgust’ at priest’s abuse

Former pupils at three Jesuit schools in Ireland who were abused by the late Fr Joseph Marmion have described the devastating impact on them and their families of “the extreme physical punishment, sexual grooming, wrongful accusation, and expulsion or threat of expulsion” they suffered at his hands.

In testimony to a restorative justice process, the men spoke of ongoing “feelings of panic, disgust, anger and upset” as well as “self criticism and self-loathing that they didn’t challenge him at the time”.

They recalled being “shocked and traumatised on witnessing the violence, and emotional and psychological abuse being inflicted on others in their class and in their presence” by the priest, while several men recalled “incidents of severe violence being inflicted on certain students that impacts them to this day”.

These were among recollections of 62 Jesuit past pupils alleging abuse by Fr Marmion, a majority at Dublin’s Belvedere College.

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The men took part in a recently concluded two-year restorative justice process, details of which are published on the Jesuits website, under the title A Restorative Response to the Abuse of Children Perpetrated by Joseph Marmion SJ. Prepared by independent restorative justice practitioners Catherine O’Connell and Barbara Walshe, it carries a warning that “explicit examples of abuse perpetrated by Joseph Marmion” could “make for difficult reading and may cause upset”.

They explain how the process was as a result of action by Belvedere past pupil Donal Ballance, who was abused by Fr Marmion. “For over two years, Donal had engaged with the Jesuit Order in Ireland, asking them to publicly name Joseph Marmion for his abuse of children whilst under their care.”

In March 2021 the Jesuits publicly acknowledged abuse of boys by Fr Marmion at Belvedere College. Within two weeks 40 men came forward alleging such abuse at Jesuit schools in Ireland.

Fr Marmion, who died in 2000, taught at Clongowes Wood College (1962–1965), Crescent College Limerick (1960–1962, 1965-1969), and Belvedere College (1969-1978), before being removed in 1978. In the restorative process, past pupils from all three schools described intimidation, physical and psychological abuse by the priest and “having to report [to him] for ‘spiritual direction’ or ‘confession’ on a regular basis where they were often told to undress and, whilst sitting or standing naked, would be questioned, and lectured about masturbation, genital cleanliness, and sin”.

Over several years at Belvedere Fr Marmion organised annual summer school trip to Vienna with around 20 boys, averaging 13-16 years of age. His quarters in Vienna was the site of multiple forms of sexual abuse. In 1977 a pupil told his father, who set in train events that resulted in Fr Marmion being removed from Belvedere in 1978.

Some past pupils said they “had never told their families or children about what happened to them. The public naming of Joseph Marmion enabled them to speak out”.

In the course of a three-day restorative process in 2021 involving 51 Irish Jesuits, they “overwhelmingly” expressed “a strong sense of shame, sadness, anger, disbelief, guilt, and humiliation at the abuse perpetrated by Joseph Marmion. Many were distressed at the extent of hurt borne by the past pupils and how, for many, it had a sustained long-term negative impact on their lives”.

Many felt that what Fr Marmion did, and its aftermath, was “a gross betrayal of everything they had stood for throughout their working and spiritual lives as they wrestled with questions as to why it had gone on for so long undetected and unacknowledged by their Society”.

For their part, the restorative justice practitioners Ms O’Connell and Ms Walshe felt “the process raised further questions for the Jesuit Order: the naming of other Jesuit priests who had abused and were not named publicly, and the situational risk for children globally posed by using confession for abusive purposes. They have also been challenged by past pupils and each other to explore further external processes in relation to governance and oversight”.

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