"The North American province was especially vulnerable to disappearing, he said, explaining that it would take "something drastic" to save it."

Something drastic...like reform...repentance...not raping little boys anymore...  

      
 CNS Story:

BROTHERS-FUTURE May-9-2011 (340 words) xxxi

Irish Christian Brothers' future uncertain, order's leader says

By Sarah MacDonald
Catholic News Service

DUBLIN (CNS) -- The head of the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers said the order's future is uncertain because of costly settlements in child abuse cases.

Brother Philip Pinto told Catholic News Service May 7 that the congregation, which has 1,200 members, "just doesn't have the money any longer."

He said that the order's decision to seek bankruptcy protection in New York April 28 was aimed at "trying to ensure that people who have been abused are the ones who get the money, not the lawyers," he said during a break in a conference on religious life sponsored by the Conference of Religious of Ireland.

Forty percent of the costs relating to abuse settlements were "going to the lawyers," he said.

The North American province was especially vulnerable to disappearing, he said, explaining that it would take "something drastic" to save it.

"In most of the developed world, we are paying for the sins of the past," he said. "Our brothers are aging, our reputation is in tatters, and the future looks bleak, even hopeless. So many of my brothers hide in their monasteries, afraid of drawing attention to themselves."

The Indian-born brother who has been congregational leader since 2002 blamed a culture in which "religious in Ireland were abused by the system."

Another conference speaker, Nuala O'Loan, former police ombudsman in Northern Ireland, told attendees that "it wasn't just the religious congregations" who were responsible for abuse in institutions and schools operated by religious congregations. She suggested that the "congregations have been made the scapegoats for the failures of all."

She criticized "successive Irish governments" who "allowed the children under their care to be deprived of their safety and security and permitted children to be held in institutions in which terrible things happened."

The Christian Brothers Institute, the legal arm of the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers, filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States amid mounting abuse claims. The majority of claims relate to the order's schools in the Seattle area and Newfoundland in Canada.

END

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The Christian Brothers were always known for their corporal punishment, before anyone knew about the perverts.

A terrible tragedy for their victims.