Judge suggests Pope Leo might tell Christian Brothers to change stance in sex abuse cases

A High Court judge has queried whether Pope Leo could direct the Christian Brothers in Ireland to end the controversial legal strategy it has adopted in child sex abuse cases.The head of the congregation, David Gibson, has declined to put forward a nominee to represent the congregation in such cases.This has made it extremely complicated and expensive for people to seek damages for being sexually abused as children by members of the congregation. Earlier this year, Circuit Court president Keenan Johnson said it appeared the strategy was designed to protect the congregation’s assets.READ MOREWhile hearing applications in the High Court in relation to three such cases on Wednesday, Judge Mary Rose Gearty asked whether canon law – the law used by the Catholic Church for its internal affairs – could be used to get Gibson to change his stance.The judge said she did not know anything about canon law, but wondered whether Gibson might be subject to any duty under church law that would allow the pope to direct that he put himself forward as a nominee for the purposes of the litigation.Barrister Andrew Nugent, for the three plaintiffs, said there had already “been moves in that direction”, but he would say no more.The Christian Brothers, like most religious organisations, is an unincorporated association, meaning that for litigation purposes a nominee has to be elected to act for it. Most religious orders do this for child sex abuse cases, but the Christian Brothers have opted not to.As a result, plaintiffs have to sue all of the members of the congregation at the time they were sexually assaulted or allege they were sexually assaulted to progress their cases, even though it is not being alleged these men had anything to do with what happened.[ Family of woman that died in Cork nursing home during pandemic settle High Court actionOpens in new window ]Earlier this year, Gearty, who has strongly criticised the position adopted by the brothers, granted permission for the plaintiff in one case to serve notice by way of a newspaper advertisement to hundreds of named individuals who were former members of the congregation.The advertisement said the 341 named men were being joined as defendants to a case involving a former brother, Liam Coughlan, in relation to child sex abuse in a primary school in Kilkenny in the 1970s. Coughlan, who died last month in Mountjoy Prison aged 90, was convicted of multiple instances of child sex abuse in the 1970s and 1980s.Legal representatives for three of the men named in the ad told the court on Wednesday that they did not want to be named in any future advertisements. One said her client had found it “very upsetting and distressing” to be named. All said their clients had nothing to do with the case. The judge said those people who had contacted the plaintiff’s solicitor, Philip Treacy of Coleman Legal, Dublin, in response to the advertisement, should not be named in future newspaper advertisements in relation to other cases.Gearty granted Nugent’s application for the publication of two new newspaper advertisements, advising former members of the Christian Brothers they were being joined as defendants, in relation to two other child sex abuse cases.The advertisements involve, respectively, 435 and 314 named former members of the congregation. There is likely to be a lot of duplication.[ Woman who sued Aer Lingus after falling while disembarking flight settles actionOpens in new window ]In what is a significant development, the judge ruled that these advertisements could say that future correspondence in relation to the cases could be collected by the defendants from the Christian Brothers headquarters on Griffith Avenue, Marino, Dublin 9.This means the law firm can write to the defendants c/o the congregation rather than writing individually to each defendant as the case proceeds.Barrister Isabelle Aylmer, for Gibson in his personal capacity, argued that the correspondence could be collected from Coleman Legal. However, the judge said it “made more sense” for the correspondence to be sent to the congregation’s headquarters.One of the new cases involves a plaintiff seeking damages for having been abused by Coughlan, while another concerns the former Christian Brother Jack Manning, currently in prison for abusing students at the primary school on Westland Row, Dublin 2. Nugent told the judge he had 13 more cases in which he would be making similar applications in relation to newspaper advertisements.