Unholy Orders: Tragedy at Mount Cashel

Bruce Grainger is Head of Public Services in the Macdonald Library at
McGill University in Montreal.

This book chronicles one of the most disgraceful episodes in the history
of Newfoundland and Canada. The author, in his capacity as editor of the
St. John’s Sunday Express, played a significant role in exposing the
scandal at the Catholic-run Mt. Cashel orphanage in St. John’s. In
more recent years the orphanage, run by the Christian Brothers, a
teaching order, has served mainly as a residence for boys from troubled
homes, under contract from the Newfoundland Department of Social
Services. As early as 1954, sexual abuse was reported to the Archbishop
of St. John’s. From the 1970s on, a great many of the boys were
subjected to persistent sexual and physical abuse by several Christian
Brothers. In one documented case, an abused boy complained directly to
Archbishop Alphonsus Penney, who failed to take effective action.
Evidence indicates that despite complaints to police in the 1970s, the
Catholic hierarchy and certain Catholic laymen in the police, civil
service, and judiciary repeatedly allowed or arranged privileged
treatment for offenders, many of whom are only now being brought to
justice. Unfortunately, abuse of this sort has occurred in similar
Catholic institutions and parishes in Canada and elsewhere in the world.
The greater tragedy is that the cover-ups not only resulted in a
miscarriage of justice, but left the deviants free to continue their
destructive acts against their helpless victims. Nor was any assistance
offered to the victims. Despite the fact that in succeeding years at
least 87 people in positions of authority learned of the abuse at Mt.
Cashel, the cover-up continued until exposure in the media led to the
establishment of a royal commission in 1989 under retired Justice Samuel
H.S. Hughes. Ultimately, Archbishop Penney resigned and Mt. Cashel was
closed. This is a grim story, competently told.