Head of Welsh abbey apologises for ‘great suffering’ of abused children

The head of an abbey on a remote Welsh island has apologised for the “great suffering” endured by children who were abused by a late monk, and the “culture of secrecy and cover-up” that kept it hidden, after an independent review.

Father Jan Rossey, who last year became the Abbot of Caldey Abbey, which is off the coast of Pembrokeshire in west Wales and home to Cistercian Order monks, commissioned a review into alleged historical child sex abuse by monks.

The review, led by former assistant police and crime commissioner at South Wales Police, Jan Pickles, examined allegations dating from the late 1960s to 1992, made by people who experienced abuse on the island as children, some who lived there and others who visited.

Grooming

Father Thaddeus Kotik, who died in 1992, sexually abused girls and boys while he was a monk at the abbey.

The review concluded that he used a tortoise and “other attractive treats” to entice children into the monastery garden, where he would sexually abuse them.

The report also said he “groomed” parents by “overwhelming” them with attention, offering babysitting help and giving small gifts.

“The nature of the abuse carried out by TK (Thaddeus Kotik) varied according to the victim’s accounts,” Ms Pickles wrote.

“It involved girls and boys, and most were pre-pubescent. Victims describe being fondled, held tightly by him and being digitally penetrated, and rape.

“The abuse in the case of some victims persisted over a period of many years, as children returned to Caldey with their families for holidays and, in some cases, TK would visit them at their home on the island.”

Complex strategies

Ms Pickles added that there are enough similarities within the cases she examined to indicate that he “employed several conscious and complex strategies to engage, seek and secure the trust of parents and their children to create opportunities for himself within plain sight of all”, which enabled him to abuse children for years.

She said there appears to have been a failure of leadership at the highest level within the order and abbey, with repeated and frequent allegations of child sexual abuse by the monk not being reported to authorities.

In the wake of the report, Father Rossey said: “It is with deep sorrow and regret that I have read in the review of the great suffering of children who were abused by Father Thaddeus Kotik and the closed culture of secrecy and cover-up which kept this hidden.

“It is clear opportunities were missed to stop the abuse of children. It is particularly heartbreaking to hear children spoke up to adults and no action was taken.

“Children and their families were failed when they should have been supported and listened to. The abuses should have been reported to the statutory authorities.

“On behalf of the monastic community, I sincerely apologise to all those who have been hurt and have suffered because of the abuse of Thaddeus Kotik, and past failures in not protecting children and their families.

“It is particularly odious when abuse is committed and hidden by people who are in positions of trust because of their monastic or priestly vocation.”

Safeguarding

He said he has ensured “many safeguarding improvements have been put in place” since he became Abbot.

Details can be found on the Caldey Island website on its safeguarding page.

The review into historical allegations at Caldey follows an independent probe into the Church of England’s (CoE) handling of allegations of abuse by the late John Smyth, which said the barrister’s “abhorrent” abuse of more than 100 children and young men was covered up within the CoE for years.