Noah thinks the causes of behavioural changes in children need to be identified
All names and identifying details have been changed.
Participants have given us permission to share their experiences.
Noah was sexually abused by a priest and an older child. These experiences caused behavioural problems for him at school and led him to cut himself off from the church and lose his faith.
His says the impact of the abuse on his mental health was made worse by his dealings with the police when he reported it.
Noah attended a religious school with close links to the church. Noah describes how pleased his family were when he was asked to undertake the prestigious role of altar boy. His role was so important that he was allowed to miss school in order to attend services.
When he was nine years old, a covering priest took over church duties. This man took Noah into a private room ‘to avoid the glare of the other boys’ and sexually abused him.
Noah describes how shocked and upset he was, and how his behaviour changed almost immediately – he says be became ‘erratic and manic’.
He is sure he was not the only boy who was sexually abused; he witnessed the changing behaviour of two of his peers – one become violent and the other introverted. However, these changes were not noticed by the school.
After a time, Noah reported the sexual abuse to another priest, only to be told that he himself had committed a ‘sin’ and that he was simply ‘going through a phase’.
An older male child who lived nearby had also started sexually abusing Noah, and he says that this made him think that what was happening with the priest was ‘normal’.
The abuse by the priest ended when Noah was 11 years old, but throughout his time at school and beyond, he still displayed behavioural problems. In adulthood he was diagnosed as bipolar.
In later life, Noah reported both episodes of sexual abuse to the police. They investigated both cases, but Noah had the impression that as this was non-recent sexual abuse, it was not ‘worthy of being pursued’.
He says the police discovered that the priest had been found to have abused children in other countries before moving into Noah’s church, and that the church was aware of the sexual abuse allegations.
The police also confirmed Noah’s suspicions that the older child who abused him was a victim of sexual abuse himself. Noah thought this was the case because of the adult and manipulative language that the older child had used.
No charges were brought – the priest had died some time ago and the case against the older child was not thought to be strong enough.
Noah was very disappointed by his experience with the police, saying it was a traumatic and overly bureaucratic process. He felt concerned about the way in which some of the officers tried to identify with him by pointing out their own religious affiliations. He has struggled to come to terms with the fact that the older boy who abused him was himself a victim.
In adulthood, Noah told his mother about the sexual abuse by the two perpetrators. He believes his mother might have known about the older child, but dismissed it because the older child’s mother was around, acting as a protective factor.
Noah hopes that by speaking to the Truth Project he may help prevent childhood sexual abuse in the future and to obtain some form of closure.
He feels strongly that church-affiliated schools should be better regulated and should not allow themselves to be manipulated by the clergy. He adds that the church should be quick to respond to allegations and stronger action taken to remove people from their posts if they are found to be abusers.