From shame to guilt: negotiating moral and legal responsibility within apologies for historical institutional abuse

Abstract

This article explores the role of apology in addressing moral and legal responsibility for historical institutional abuse (HIA). Drawing on extensive fieldwork in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, it analyses juridical techniques within official apologies, principally by the Catholic Church, to circumvent legal responsibility for HIA: the use of language, the avoidance of tangible redress, and the preference for offering private apologies. Moving beyond the literature, it highlights a more nuanced range of legal and ideological barriers to sincere apologies: the role of canon law, the role of lawyers, and concerns with multiple audiences. The article argues that traversing the complex moral and legal dimensions of apology entails moving from the general expression of remorse and shaming of the self to the specific acceptance of harm to others and responsibility for repair. It concludes by reflecting on the core elements of ‘remedial responsibility’, new classifications of apologies, and their broader therapeutic value.