My brother was seriously abused by sadistic priest
Mary McAleese calls for independent inquiry into paedophile ex-teacher
FORMER president Mary McAleese yesterday said her youngest brother was ‘seriously, physically, sadistically abused’ by paedophile priest Malachy Finnegan for years. Speaking on RTÉ Radio One’s Today with Sean O’Rourke, Mrs McAleese called for an independent inquiry into the handling of abuse allegations against Finnegan.
He died in 2002 after serving as president of St Colman’s College in Newry, Co. Down, which was attended by four of Mrs McAleese’s five brothers. He is accused of a catalogue of sexual and physical abuse by former students.
Mrs McAleese’s brother, Clement Leneghan, 49, first described his experience three weeks ago in a letter to the Belfast Telegraph.
‘Malachy Finnegan was a sadist,’ he wrote: ‘Throughout my seven years as a pupil at St Colman’s in the 1980s, something rotten was allowed to fester at the core of that school – I saw it every day. He had a duty to protect, but chose instead to indulge his destructive, criminal urges.’
Although Mr Leneghan wrote that he ‘thankfully’ never experienced sexual abuse as others had, he noted traumatic experiences ‘shape young lives and have complex, damaging echoes long into adulthood for many’.
Mrs McAleese called for an inquiry into what happened and why nothing was done.
‘There is a body of information that was well known to people who were in a position to do something about it, but didn’t,’ she said, pointing to those in senior positions at the school.
Mrs McAleese added her mother, who is nearly 90, only learned of the traumatic news when the letter was printed.
‘What frightens me is that we only find this out all these decades later,’ she said. ‘I’m the oldest of nine children and I always said my brothers could tell me anything but he didn’t because the culture of silence was so oppressive and these children were so frightened.’
She added there are ‘questions that need to be answered’ by those ‘at a senior level in the school and in the dioceses about what they knew and when they knew it’.
The former president said there are ‘legions of silent sufferers’ which ‘shouts for an inquiry’ into what allowed the culture of abuse to perpetuate.
‘The sad thing is that here we are, 20 years after the new guidelines were introduced, all of the secrets were supposed to be out but here we are, there’s a mountain of them and a mountain of hurt,’ she added. Mrs McAleese also called on Pope Francis to visit Newry after the recent resignation of Dromore Bishop John McAreavey.
Finnegan’s victims criticised him for celebrating Finnegan’s funeral Mass in 2002 despite knowing of the abuse allegations, prompting him to stand down.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said Mrs McAleese’s call for an inquiry should get careful consideration. He added: ‘I didn’t have a chance to hear the interview but I saw some reports of it and I know it was deeply powerful and has affected a lot of people. Certainly when I get home I will consult with the Minister for Justice and Minister for Children about it.’
Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland director, said: ‘Sadly, the Fr Finnegan abuse scandal is not an isolated case.
‘It is the latest example of how paedophile priests appear to have been facilitated by the Catholic Church authorities in continuing their criminal behaviour.’
Something rotten was allowed to fester