Statement from the CSSA Survivor Reference Panel on the Death of Brian Devlin

17 March 2026

From Steve Ashley, CEO: Survivors whom we work with have asked to make the following statement about Brian Devlin.

We open this space for their voices:

Statement from the CSSA Survivor Reference Panel on the Death of Brian Devlin

This statement refers to clerical sexual abuse and may be difficult for some readers.

The Survivor Reference Panel was saddened to hear of the death of Brian Devlin on Thursday, 5 March 2026. We recognise that this news may be painful for many survivors reading it, and that the impact of Brian’s death is being deeply felt across survivor circles throughout the United Kingdom.

Several members of our panel had the privilege of working with Brian on various projects. He was a source of encouragement and strength to many of us, and his presence and integrity were widely respected.

Brian was a survivor of clerical sexual abuse during his time as a seminarian. When his abuser was ordained as a Catholic bishop, Brian resigned from priestly ministry. Later, when that same abuser was appointed a cardinal, Brian showed remarkable courage in speaking publicly about his abuse and in naming the hypocrisy of a man who had become an outspoken critic of homosexuality, describing it as a “moral degradation”, while opposing same‑sex marriage.

Brian demonstrated particular courage in writing his story in 2021 in Cardinal Sin: Challenging Power Abuse in the Catholic Church, in which he was one of four whistleblowers in Scotland’s Catholic Church. Through this book, Brian hoped that the Roman Catholic Church might change and begin a genuine process of healing.

Brian described himself as a “collapsed Catholic”. This did not impede his determination to seek justice and to do good—both within the Church and in other areas of his life. He remained committed to standing alongside others who had been harmed and to challenging abuses of power wherever he encountered them.

In his death, Brian passes the baton to other survivors of Church related abuse, and the Church and the world are poorer without his presence.

Survivor Reference Panel, Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency