Physical and sexual abuse was ‘common knowledge’ at the Catholic school Steven attended
All names and identifying details have been changed.
Participants have given us permission to share their experiences.
Steven grew up in a Catholic family in the 1960s. Following prompting by the local priest and family members, he was sent to board at a local Catholic school.
It seems to have been widely known that several teachers abused pupils, and many parents removed their children from the school.
Steven relates how the first-year students were placed in dormitories and were looked after by a kind priest. However, this priest would occasionally be away from the school, and a more elderly, unfriendly priest, Father Eamon, would take his place.
On one occasion, Steven went to one of the dormitory bathrooms and found Father Eamon waiting for him. The priest sat on the edge of the bath and insisted that Steven undress and bathe in front of him. Steven says he felt very uncomfortable, but never told anyone about it.
Father Eamon behaved in a similar way to other pupils in the school. He was always there early in the morning when the boys were showering or swimming and he would insist that the boys swam naked.
Steven adds that a couple of boys told him that when the headmaster was delivering corporal punishment he would fondle their bottoms and touch them between the legs before he smacked them. During the time Steven attended the school he says that several parents removed their children and he had few friends there by the time he left.
He describes a third teacher who was abusive to the boys – Father Curtis. Steven says he was ‘a frightening and authoritative figure’ at the school who often physically punished the boys – they knew they would receive harsher punishments if they were sent to Father Curtis.
Steven recalls one boy who was punished by Father Curtis showing him and some other boys the results of the beating. His bottom was black and blue for days. In addition, he says Father Curtis seemed to enjoy encouraging other boys to deliver his punishments. Pupils were made aware that Father Curtis would get house captains to hold an offending boy, naked, by the arms and legs while the boy was beaten on the bottom with a strap.
The way the boys were treated seemed to be common knowledge. Steven once heard another priest, who occasionally visited the school, tell a group of boys that they would scare the other priests if they threatened to go to the police. Unable to bear the way he and others were treated, he left the school, but kept in touch with other former pupils and friends for many years.
Years later, Steven says he bumped into a former teacher from the area who confirmed that he’d heard rumours of beatings at the school.
Based on his experience, Steven believes that religious orders should not be allowed to run educational establishments.