A man who was abused at a Catholic children’s home has called on the Church to honour the Pope’s promise to help victims.Chris Daly presented a petition to the Scottish Parliament yesterday calling on the Scottish Government to set up a forum to allow victims to tell of their experiences and to provide compensation.
Based on comments that Pope Benedict made on his visit to Britain, he wants the Catholic Church to sign up to the forum.
“We are holding him to his word that he will help us materially, spiritually and psychologically,” Mr Daly said.
During the 1970s, Mr Daly and his brother Brian endured four years of physical and emotional abuse by nuns at Nazareth House in Aberdeen.
In December 2004, his petition to the Scottish Parliament seeking an inquiry into the abuse of children in institutional care resulted in an apology from the first minister of the day, Jack McConnell, and an inquiry by an expert review group, which recommended changes to legislation.
Mr Daly, 45, of Rutherglen, South Lanarkshire, said a government-backed pilot forum for abuse survivors did not go far enough as it was confined to 100 former residents of the Quarriers homes.
He is seeking a larger forum based on the Irish model or the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission set up after the fall of apartheid.
“We have had the apology from Pope Benedict, and it was a very fulsome apology while he was here on British soil,” Mr Daly said.
“After that apology we are looking for actions for survivors. We are looking for all those things that Pope Benedict promised.”
Fellow campaigner Helen Holland, who was physically and sexually abused at Nazareth House in Kilmarnock, is behind the campaign.
“There have been a lot of promises but there is a need for decisive action for survivors,” said Ms Holland, 51, of Alexandria, near Glasgow.
SIC: P&J/INT'L
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