Justice a long time in coming

Five years after initiating a High Court action against the Diocese of Ferns, and 30 years after suffering sexual abuse at the hands of a priest, Colm O’Gorman yesterday received justice.

He settled his action against the diocese for €300,000 and an apology for the abuse he was subjected to by the late Fr Sean Fortune, after a long, courageous battle.

A statement read out in court on behalf of the

apostolic administrator of Ferns Dr Eamon Walsh

acknowledged negligence by the Catholic Church

authorities and regretted the distress, trauma and hurt caused to Mr O’Gorman.

In pursuing the Church authorities through the court he ultimately showed that institutions, no matter how powerful and influential in this society, are not always immune to the legal consequences that justice should demand they face.

In his own words, Mr O’Gorman said he felt the sense of having achieved some real and significant level of justice because for the first time the Catholic Church have acknowledged, in a court of law, that they were negligent in how they handled and responded to cases of clerical sexual abuse.

The decision was a monumental achievement for the man who is director of One in Four, an organisation for victims of sexual abuse. Equally, it is a salutary lesson for those in authority in the Church, which has treated other victims with the same indifference in attempting to protect itself from responsibility.