The Christian Brothers have been the focus of a considerable amount of media attention in the last couple of weeks concerning the issue of allegations of sexual abuse of minors by a number of their members.

A High Court judge was very critical of them because they refused to give an individual name which would facilitate those who wished to take a legal case against them. She ordered that 341 former members of the order could be served with their summons by way of a newspaper advertisement, after the congregation told the court it did not have contact details for the men.

Even those who had left the order many years since were named. I have been saddened by this whole affair; sad for the many people whose lives were damaged by various forms of abuse at the hands of certain Brothers. But sad also for the Brothers themselves, most of whom are now elderly, and who did not abuse anybody, but gave great service in their schools, opening up life opportunities for generations of young men by providing secondary education at minimum cost.

In the pre-Vatican II era (and often post-Vatican II) formation of recruits to religious life largely left people with a negative self-image. I was one of them. I believe the formation given to their young men by the Christian Brothers had........

© The Irish Times