Clerical Abuse

Daly, Mary E.; Pound, Marcus

Abstract

From the 1990s onwards a series of child sexual, physical, and emotional abuse allegations and convictions involving male and female Catholic clergy and religious began to gain public attention in Britain, Ireland, and internationally. This chapter examines the role of the media, Church, and State responses, including the introduction and implementation of safeguarding measures, the relationships between civil law and canon law, and between the Vatican and national hierarchies. It explores the dynamics of abuse in both Catholic institutional settings as well as abuse by priests in the parish communities, and the impact of that abuse on survivors and the wider Catholic community. The concluding section reflects on how the deformation of Catholic practices has contributed to the perception of a ‘crisis’ of abuse within the Catholic Church, in Britain and Ireland, and globally.

Citation

Daly, M. E., & Pound, M. (2023). Clerical Abuse. In A. Harris (Ed.), The Oxford History of British and Irish Catholicism, Vol V: Recapturing the Apostolate of the Laity, 1914-2021 (308-333). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198844310.003.0016

• Publication Date: Sep 21, 2023
• Deposit Date: Jul 6, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 22, 2025
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Pages: 308-333
• Series Number: V
• Book Title: The Oxford History of British and Irish Catholicism, Vol V: Recapturing the Apostolate of the Laity, 1914-2021
• Chapter Number: 15
• ISBN: 9780198844310
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198844310.003.0016
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1644854
• Contract Date: Jan 1, 2023