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Father Ronald Bennett OFM (born 1935) is a Franciscan friar and a former spiritual director, sports master and bursar of Gormanston College, County Meath, Ireland, who was convicted of sexual assault against some of his pupils. His faculties for hearing confession and celebrating mass publicly have been withdrawn. Bennett lives at Dún Mhuire, Killiney, County Dublin.〔("Priest Admits 1970s Abuse at Gormanston" ), ''Irish Independent'', 5 July 2006. (accessed 2008-07-07)〕 ==Conviction== Bennett joined the staff of the College in 1963 and his duties also included organising teams of altar boys. He pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on June 29, 2006, to six sample charges of sexually abusing four pupils, three of whom were boarders, at the college on dates from 1974 to 1981. The abuse began with Bennett touching them outside their clothing, culminating with the abuse taking place in some cases with both parties totally naked. Some of the abuse took place in Bennett's office, while conducting sex education lessons, to which victims were summoned over the college tannoy system and direct access to which was controlled by a set of red and green lights outside his office door (a standard feature of all offices in the college at the time) The ''Irish Times'' reported that the Franciscans in charge of Gormanston College during Bennett's tenure were made aware of abuse but did not remove him.〔 (accessed 2008-07-07)〕 Richard Lanigan, a past pupil of Gormanston College, said the priest's behaviour was common knowledge among the boys in the 1970s, although they were not aware of the extent of the abuse.〔 "Some of the priests were lovely men, dedicated to their students," he said, "but this went on and adults who should have known better didn't want to go there. The neglect of these children by the other priests is every bit as bad as what Bennett did to them."〔("Dignity of a sex predator" ), ''Irish Independent'', 14 March 2007. (accessed 2008-07-07)〕 Dr Lanigan has set up a website to provide an independent forum for former students to discuss how abused past pupils might be supported.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ronald Bennett (priest)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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