Sarah Mac Donald
The plinth on which the sculpture sits explains that it is a tribute to all the victims of abuse by those who should have protected them.
The work is inscribed with a quotation of St Paul, ‘Truth is the fruit of Spirit’, which the artist John Coll felt encapsulated the spirit of those who had spoken out.
A new sculpture has been unveiled at a parish in Dublin as a public gesture of atonement towards those who suffered abuse at Jesuit schools in Ireland.
“Heart Wheel” by John Coll, a former pupil of the Jesuits’ Coláiste Iognáid in Galway, is part of the restorative process for those affected by the abuse of Fr Joseph Marmion SJ and other Jesuits identified as abusers.
In February, the Jesuits named 15 members “credibly accused of child abuse” in the last 70 years in Ireland. The publication of these names followed the naming of Marmion in 2021 and fellow Jesuits Fr Paul Andrews and Fr Dermot Casey in 2024. To date 160 people have contacted the order with allegations of abuse.
“The memorialising work preserves and honours the memory of those who have suffered abuse. It is also a reminder of the need for constant vigilance to ensure the safety and care that children and young people deserve as of right,” said the Jesuit provincial, Fr Shane Daly SJ .
The plinth on which the sculpture sits explains that it is a tribute to all the victims of abuse by those who should have protected them. Five smaller versions are to be displayed in each of the five Jesuit schools in Ireland.
“This project was the most emotionally challenging I have experienced in my career, but also the most rewarding,” the artist John Coll said. “From my research I learned that many survivors need the truth of their abuse to be revealed in order for them to move on with their emotional lives,” he explained. “The image of a wheel with a heart at its centre, represents the wheel of one’s emotional life. The wheel is fractured, representing the trauma suffered.”
The work is inscribed with a quotation of St Paul, “Truth is the fruit of Spirit”, which Coll felt encapsulated the spirit of those who had spoken out. A quotation runs on the track of the wheel from TS Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral, “Forgive us, pray for us, that we may pray for you out of our shame”.
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