Madam, - Rev Gerard McGreevy (September 25th) calls for an appreciation of the context in which Ireland's children's homes were forced to operate and of the problems inherent in managing management of such establishments.
Father Edward J. Flanagan (1886-1948) emigrated to the US from his native Roscommon in 1904. As a young priest in Omaha, Nebraska, he developed a concern for delinquent and underprivileged children. He soon came to the conclusion that boys of impressionable years responded best to rehabilitation efforts.
He opened his Home for Homeless Boys in 1917 with an initial intake of five, two of whom were destitute, the others assigned by the courts. Later, he purchased a 320-acre farm in the area and there established what became known as Boys' Town, an institution which continues to flourish today.
With no formal training in social work, he ignored the standard practices of the day and launched out in a new direction. With the aim of developing character, religious, academic, vocational and recreational programmes were established. Corporal punishment was abandoned; praise was lavish where behaviour warranted it, while unacceptable conduct brought constructive criticism. A sign at the entrance declared that all races, creeds and colours were accepted and that visitors were always welcome.
Father Flanagan famously declared that there was no such thing as a bad boy. This belief stemmed from his theory that, except for organic disorders, man is not born with maladjustments. These develop later from bad environment, bad thinking and bad training.
Many Boys' Town graduates, who had once been branded incorrigible, became productive members of society. Two successful films (1938 and 1941) brought the beloved priest worldwide fame. Gifted with a rare talent for capturing the public imagination, he came to be universally recognised as an authority on child care and the treatment of juvenile delinquency.
On returning to his native Ireland in 1946, Father Flanagan visited a number of industrial schools. He subsequently expressed shock at the abuse and neglect of children he discovered - a state of affairs which he labelled a "disgrace to the nation". There was "a vast army of child slaves" in workshops.
His criticisms were published in both Irish and US newspapers.
Father Flanagan left Ireland with the avowed intention of returning to advance a campaign for reform.
He was subsequently to question how those holding the deposit of faith in his homeland could justify the treatment of the children in their care in an era which saw Nazis and fascists so severely punished for their crimes against society, and in which the evils of Communism were being constantly emphasised.
In 1947, acting as a consultant to the US government, he visited Japan and Korea to advise on setting up youth programmes there. The following year President Truman sent him to Central Europe to help resolve the crisis of displaced children in that war-torn area. Shortly after his arrival, he died suddenly in Berlin on May 15th, 1948. - Yours, etc.,
PETER SCOTT, Dromore Co Tyrone.