Chapter 7 — Artane

Sexual abuse

This went on for a period of time and became more frequent. Br Adrien would often make a point of beating him in the refectory in front of all the boys if he committed any slight infraction: ‘I was being shown who was in charge here, “you do what I tell you to do”’.

Br Adrien had an office at the back of the refectory and, when the complainant was brought there, the same pattern of behaviour continued. The door was locked and he was made to masturbate the Brother in return for sweets and treats. He also alleged that, on one occasion, Br Adrien anally raped him. The second time he tried to do this, the boy resisted by kicking out. In return, he was badly beaten and had no escape from the locked room.

The complainant went to Confession on a Friday in the mid-1960s and told the chaplain, Fr Moore, what had been happening with Br Adrien. He was shocked and asked the boy to repeat what he said outside of the confessional. The boy did so and then the priest reported the matter to the Superior, Br Ourson.

The following Monday, Br Ourson and a large number of the teaching Brothers came out to the pre-school assembly in the yard, and the complainant was summoned to Br Ourson’s office. There, he was asked to repeat exactly what he had told the chaplain. When asked what Br Ourson’s reaction was, he said, ‘I can’t say what his reaction was. All I know is that within 24 hours Br Adrien was gone out of Artane’.

The matter did not rest there. According to the witness, he was taken out of class the next day and was questioned about boys he had been ‘committing badness with’. He was beaten in the course of this questioning until he named boys. Those boys were in turn taken out of class and beaten until they gave names. He was taken out again over two or three days, and was beaten because of being named by other boys: It was just one vicious circle that kept going on for two – for three days. I had been taken out because other boys started giving my name back again. It was even said to me, but who said it I don’t know, “you should have kept your mouth shut and none of this would have happened”.

He went on to say that for three days he was systematically beaten: both outside classroom, in the dormitory, anywhere where I went within those environments. I was taken to a music room just off the corridor to the right of where the classes are and I had been beaten so much that I went to the toilet in a bin and another boy seen me and told a Brother that I had done that and I was taken back out and flogged again because I had done that. We weren’t allowed to go to the toilet, we were being punished for something that I had started.

He said that six Brothers punished him during that period: I was beaten by so many of them at that particular time I can’t say if all done it because I was systematically just taken out and being accused of this and accused of that and there was no let up whatsoever ... it was like it was a punishment over me going and reporting.

He recalled being badly bruised and swollen after these events but said that nobody intervened on his behalf: Brothers didn’t go against Brothers, they all stuck together. I think the whole school knew that I had reported Br Adrien, the whole lot of the Christian Brothers and everything, so there was no sympathy shown for anything that I may have done on my behalf.

From that time on, life for the complainant settled down in Artane, and he was not subjected to any further sexual or physical abuse.

Fr Henry Moore confirmed what this witness said about making the complaint to Br Ourson. He knew he had been an altar boy, and what was being alleged when the boy spoke of ‘badness’. He recalled the boy was very upset and nervous when telling him.

Fr Moore suggested that he should tell the Superior, but the boy’s first reaction to that suggestion was that he was too afraid. It would be taken that he was ‘squealing’, as he put it, on Br Adrien. The boy was relieved when Fr Moore said he would speak with Br Ourson. Fr Moore also reported the allegation to the Provincial Superior in Marino, Br Mulholland, to reinforce his concern about the matter. Fr Moore recalled Br Adrien being removed within a matter of days.

Complainants testified that a campaign of physical punishment directed against sexual activity between boys followed Br Adrien’s removal, but this was denied by the Congregation. Fr Moore remembered complaints being made to him by boys about the activities of a Brother who was going from class to class inquiring in a frightening manner about sexual activity among the boys, although he could not recall if this coincided with the Br Adrien incident: But I do remember a group, some two, three or four, coming to me and being almost in a state of panic about this. I asked them about what was troubling them and they told me that there was something going on in the school, in the school rooms. Br Videl was going from class to class and calling out boys and inquiring about their sexual activity and getting – and then beating them in the corridor outside of class and getting them to inform on other boys and beating them. This was continuing all throughout a day, a particular day. They were very, very fearful of this. As I say, it seemed to me in a state of panic. So I decided then that I would have to confront Br Videl myself and relate to him what the boys had said and how distressed they were. He told me that there was a problem of pretty widespread sexual activity among the boys.

Another complainant spoke of a sudden increase at this time in the Brothers’ interest in detecting sexual abuse in the Institution. This Complainant spoke of a particular campaign against sexual behaviour between boys when Brothers used to check on boys in toilet cubicles. He said that the school was assembled and the Brother in charge spoke to the boys and told them of the high number of boys found misbehaving in this way, and told the boys that it had to stop. He himself was never caught by the Brothers, and he said he was not aware what happened to the boys who were detected, although he could recall them being brought into a classroom.

A number of respondent witnesses who were in Artane during this time stated that they recalled Br Adrien being in the kitchen, but they had no recollection of him leaving. Fr Moore said that such an assertion would surprise him very much indeed, as he had certainly noticed his departure and had discussed it with at least one Brother.

The statement in response to the allegation about Br Adrien filed by the Congregation was signed by a Brother who was in Artane for a period which overlapped for one year with the complainant’s stay. The Brother stated that, for the purpose of making his statement, he relied on his own knowledge and personal experience of Artane Industrial School. The statement addressed the issue of sexual abuse in Artane generally, in the same way as all statements signed by representatives of the Congregation.