Sir, – Senator Martin McAleese says of the Christian Brothers Past Pupils reunion that “it would not happen without the abused” (Home News, October 9th). This may be so. Those of us who spent all of our earlier lives with the Christian Brothers do not see this gathering in the same way as Senator McAleese and others mentioned in the article.
The Christian Brothers have still not accepted their part in the very serious abuses and failures perpetrated on weak and very vulnerable children, many who were orphans and so suffered mostly in these industrial schools.
They commissioned reports into these schools without engaging those of us who were there. They have whitewashed us out of their histories and turned their faces to the “new worlds” of Eastern Europe, India and elsewhere.
The continuing abuses of former pupils in the Residential Institutions Redress Board and the courts is disgraceful and, encouraged by the structures that allow secrecy and pseudonyms to be used, silences, deflects and hides the truth and the meaning of the truth from full exposure.
We wish Senator McAleese and others every success at their gathering.
Sadly, the majority of us who went through the industrial schools still suffer its effects. We are all getting old now, many living in England in L-shaped rooms for over 40 years while some in Canada and the US are suffering ill health and are unable to pay for medical insurance.
We see no reason to celebrate until the Christian Brothers meet and engage fully with those of us in support of these sad but proud individuals. – Yours, etc,