Clerical Abuse

Daly, Mary E.; Pound, Marcus

doi:10.1093/oso/9780198844310.003.0016

Clerical Abuse

Daly, Mary E.; Pound, Marcus

Authors

Mary E. Daly

Dr Marcus Pound m.j.p.pound@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor

Contributors

Alana Harris
Editor

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

Acceptance Date	Jan 1, 2023
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