Kirchenakte Documented events from judgments, reports and church documents
2013-2015 · 2 years · show in timeline

Scotland 2013 to 2015: The McLellan Commission records that a culture of secrecy and cover-up hid abuse for years and that the Church protected the institution and priests first

After the revelations about Fort Augustus, the Scottish bishops set up an independent commission chaired by Andrew McLellan. Its 2015 report records that a culture of secrecy and cover-up hid the abuse for many years, which bishops, priests and parishes did not deny. The default position had been to protect the institution and priests first. Priests were moved or returned to ministry after treatment. In the preceding ten years, it says, the Church had made no significant structural changes.

Period
2013-2015 (2 years)
Report published
18 August 2015
Country
United Kingdom
Institutions
Bishops' Conference of Scotland
Category
Sexual abuse, Cover-up
Level of evidence
A Primary source · what does this mean?
Persons
Keith O'Brien (cardinal, resigned February 2013)

What happened to the people

Who was affected? Victims and numbers

  1. The commission repeatedly heard that survivors felt excluded from the investigation of their complaints, were not told the process and never learned what had been decided about the accused. One survivor wrote to her bishop that she felt confused, angry and hopeless, as if she were not being heard.
    Evidence: McLellan Commission, im Auftrag der Bischofskonferenz von Schottland, Ziff. 2.30
    „many survivors had felt themselves excluded from the process of the investigation of their complaints“
    A review of the current safeguarding policies, procedures and practice within the Catholic Church in Scotland (McLellan Commission Report), Ziff. 2.30. Original
    Evidence: McLellan Commission, im Auftrag der Bischofskonferenz von Schottland, Ziff. 2.30
    „they were never told what decisions had been made about the person whose abuse they had reported“
    A review of the current safeguarding policies, procedures and practice within the Catholic Church in Scotland (McLellan Commission Report), Ziff. 2.30. Original

What happened to those affected?

  1. Despite the abuse and despite statements about change, the Catholic Church in Scotland had made no significant structural changes in the last ten years to embed safeguarding in ministry and theology.
    Evidence: McLellan Commission, im Auftrag der Bischofskonferenz von Schottland, Ziff. 2.42
    „has not made significant structural changes in terms of embedding safeguarding in the ministry and theology of the Church in the last ten years“
    A review of the current safeguarding policies, procedures and practice within the Catholic Church in Scotland (McLellan Commission Report), Ziff. 2.42. Original

Background

Why? Justification and motives (according to the sources)

  1. The explanation the commission repeatedly heard was that the Church's default position had been to protect the institution and priests before meeting the needs of those abused.
    Evidence: McLellan Commission, im Auftrag der Bischofskonferenz von Schottland, Ziff. 2.27
    „the Church’s default position had been to seek to protect the institution and to seek to protect priests, before seeking to meet the needs of those abused“
    A review of the current safeguarding policies, procedures and practice within the Catholic Church in Scotland (McLellan Commission Report), Ziff. 2.27. Original

Response of the Church

  1. The commission finds that a culture of secrecy and cover-up kept the abuse hidden for many years. No one denied this in any meeting: bishops, priests, safeguarding advisors and parish members agreed.
    Evidence: McLellan Commission, im Auftrag der Bischofskonferenz von Schottland, Ziff. 2.26
    „Nor is there any doubt that a culture of secrecy and cover-up allowed this abuse to remain hidden for many years.“
    A review of the current safeguarding policies, procedures and practice within the Catholic Church in Scotland (McLellan Commission Report), Ziff. 2.26. Original
    Evidence: McLellan Commission, im Auftrag der Bischofskonferenz von Schottland, Ziff. 2.26
    „Bishops, priests, safeguarding advisors and members of parishes all agreed that a culture of secrecy had been a very significant part of the response of the Church to allegations of abuse.“
    A review of the current safeguarding policies, procedures and practice within the Catholic Church in Scotland (McLellan Commission Report), Ziff. 2.26. Original
    Evidence: McLellan Commission, im Auftrag der Bischofskonferenz von Schottland, Ziff. 2.44
    „The Commission was appointed in the wake of the emerging story of Fort Augustus“
    A review of the current safeguarding policies, procedures and practice within the Catholic Church in Scotland (McLellan Commission Report), Ziff. 2.44. Original
  2. In the past, Scottish priests in abuse cases were at times quietly moved to another parish, given other work or sent for counselling. The commission was given examples of priests returning to ministry after treatment and risk assessment.
    Evidence: McLellan Commission, im Auftrag der Bischofskonferenz von Schottland, Ziff. 2.32
    „there were times when such a priest would be quietly moved to another parish or sent to some other kind of work or given a period of counselling“
    A review of the current safeguarding policies, procedures and practice within the Catholic Church in Scotland (McLellan Commission Report), Ziff. 2.32. Original
    Evidence: McLellan Commission, im Auftrag der Bischofskonferenz von Schottland, Ziff. 2.31
    „priests being removed from ministry for a time to undergo treatment and risk assessment, but then being returned to ministry“
    A review of the current safeguarding policies, procedures and practice within the Catholic Church in Scotland (McLellan Commission Report), Ziff. 2.31. Original
  3. According to the commission, the Church said almost nothing about safeguarding at the time of Cardinal Keith O'Brien's resignation in February 2013 and gave no open account. The bishops deny that secrecy hampered them; the commission recognises that they did not then have all the facts and that a cardinal can only be judged by the Pope.
    Evidence: McLellan Commission, im Auftrag der Bischofskonferenz von Schottland, Ziff. 2.36
    „The Church did not give an open and transparent account of what had happened and why to the Catholic faithful or to the people of Scotland.“
    A review of the current safeguarding policies, procedures and practice within the Catholic Church in Scotland (McLellan Commission Report), Ziff. 2.36. Original
    Evidence: McLellan Commission, im Auftrag der Bischofskonferenz von Schottland, Ziff. 2.39
    „the Bishops maintain that it was not a culture of secrecy that hampered them from making a more open response in this case“
    A review of the current safeguarding policies, procedures and practice within the Catholic Church in Scotland (McLellan Commission Report), Ziff. 2.39. Original

See also

Original documents to read

  1. Commission report
    McLellan Commission, im Auftrag der Bischofskonferenz von Schottland: A review of the current safeguarding policies, procedures and practice within the Catholic Church in Scotland (McLellan Commission Report), 18 August 2015. Original (retrieved 31 Oct 2026)
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