Victims ask Pope Leo to intervene with Irish Christian Brothers on child sex abuse cases

A Dublin law firm acting for men sexually abused as children by members of the Christian Brothers has twice written to the pope seeking help.The Christian Brothers has adopted a legal strategy that is frustrating the efforts of people seeking damages for child sex abuse to get a hearing, and the law firm wrote to Rome asking that the pope might direct the Irish congregation to alter its controversial approach.However, the pleas – one to the late Pope Francis in May 2023, and another to his successor, Pope Leo, in September of this year – have been met with silence. Last week, High Court Judge Mary Rose Gearty, when hearing applications in relation to three child abuse cases, wondered if there might be something in canon law that would allow the Vatican to direct the head of the Christian Brothers in Ireland, David Gibson, to change its approach.READ MORE“I don’t know enough about canon law to know whether Mr Gibson would have any duty to obey what he was asked to do by the pope; I don’t. I am not suggesting, at this stage, to serve the pope but I am not ruling it out,” she said.In response, barrister Andrew Nugent, instructed by Coleman Legal, which represents a number of men seeking to sue [the] congregation, said there “have been moves in that direction. I will say no more.”In a letter to Pope Leo in September, which included a copy of a 2023 letter to Pope Francis, Coleman Legal said the “cynicism” of the Christian Brothers is causing further trauma to victims and “must run contrary to every tenet of the Catholic Church”.“The purpose of this letter to you is to invite your intercession, on behalf of the Catholic Church, with the congregation of Christian Brothers,” the law firm said.The letter was also sent to the Papal Nuncio in Ireland and a number of Irish law firms linked to the litigation.The letter was written on behalf of a man who was seeking damages after being sexually abused as a child by three brothers in the CBS primary school on Stephen Street, Kilkenny, in the 1970s.One of the abusers, Liam Coughlan, died last month in Mountjoy Prison, where he was serving sentences for multiple sexual assaults on children in Kilkenny and elsewhere. Another, Martin O’Flaherty, is in prison, having been convicted of multiple instances of sexual assault on children in the Kilkenny school. The third, Sean Murphy, was the subject of a Garda inquiry into sexual assault in the Kilkenny school but died before any charges were brought against him.The Christian Brothers, like most religious congregations, is an unincorporated association. Most congregations, when involved in litigation, put forward a nominee to represent the association for the purposes of the case, but the Christian Brothers has been opting not to do so in cases of child sex abuse.As a result, claimants, to advance their case to the stage where it can be heard, must identify and sue everyone who was a member of the congregation at the time of the sexual assaults, a complicated and hugely expensive process.[ The Irish Times view on the Christian Brothers’ legal strategy: morally bereftOpens in new window ]Earlier this year, the president of the Circuit Court, Judge Keenan Johnson, described the Christian Brothers’ strategy as “morally bankrupt” and said it appeared to be designed to protect the congregation’s assets.According to the Charities Register, the Christian Brothers had net assets of €51.7 million at the end of 2025. Income last year was €18.7 million, while expenditure was €11 million.The congregation is currently facing multiple child sex abuse claims in the High Court. It is widely believed that many who might make claims are being dissuaded from doing so by the brothers’ obstructive legal strategy, or are settling.People bringing claims have to serve legal papers on all those men still alive, or who have died in the past two years, who were in the congregation at the time of the alleged or actual sexual assault. Papers have to be served on both former members and men still in the congregation. The congregation has been ordered by the courts to hand over the relevant names.Earlier this year, Gearty gave permission to Coleman Legal to serve papers in one case on more than 300 former members by way of putting a notice in a national newspaper. The advertisement named all the men and informed them they were being made defendants in a child sex abuse case involving Coughlan and assaults in the 1970s.High Court judge Mary Rose Gearty, who was appointed director of judicial studies just over a year ago by the Judicial Council. Photograph: Collins Courts Last week, lawyers for three of the men named in the advertisement were in court. One lawyer said her client had found it “very upsetting and distressing” to be publicly named about a crime with which he had no connection.Two of the men named had never completed their training with the congregation, their lawyers told the court.Nevertheless, Gearty granted permission to Coleman Legal to repeat the exercise in relation to another two new cases. This will see two more newspaper advertisements, one in relation to 435 former members, and the other in relation to 314 former members, which will list the names of the men and say they are being joined as defendants in child sex abuse cases. Men who have come forward in relation to the first case will not be named in the new advertisements.In both cases, the law firm is also joining 104 existing members of the congregation to the case as defendants.The new advertisements will differ from the one published earlier this year in that Gearty acceded to a request from barrister Andrew Nugent, instructed by Philip Treacy of Coleman Legal, that the new advertisements will say that all further correspondence in relation to the cases can be collected by the defendants from the Christian Brothers headquarters, in Marino, Dublin 9.[ Judge suggests Pope Leo might tell Christian Brothers to change stance in sex abuse casesOpens in new window ]Most of the 341 former brothers named in the first advertisement, published in August, have not responded to the notice, the court was told. Coleman Legal will now begin the process of securing judgments in default of appearance against these men, Nugent said.Geary’s decision that correspondence can be sent to Marino will significantly reduce the cost of processing the claims for the claimants. However, for the congregation, it means it will have to deal with correspondence in relation to hundreds of former members in respect of a growing number of cases.Nugent told the court his firm has 13 new cases for which it will be seeking similar orders next month. Hundreds of former brothers now face the possibility of having multiple judgments in default registered against them. Alternatively, they face incurring the legal cost of trying to extricate themselves from potentially multiple High Court cases.Barrister Mark Finan, for one of the men named in the first advertisement, referred on Wednesday to the possibility that his client might bring an application early next year to see if the man can “get out at an early stage, mentally and financially”, from the litigation. [ Fear and misunderstanding continues to cloud discussions of women in Church leadershipOpens in new window ]Finan said a letter had been sent to Gibson asking whether the congregation was willing to provide an indemnity to his client in relation to the litigation.Gibson was represented in court on Wednesday in his personal capacity and not on behalf of the congregation. His barrister, Isabelle Aylmer, instructed by Frank Buttimer and Co, solicitors, said she had no instructions on the matter of indemnity. Gearty said perhaps Gibson could be asked if he would “give that comfort to former members”.