The Industrial Schools movie that Jim refers to is Song for a Raggy Boy. It's an excellent film. I can't remember who recommended it to me, but I suspect that it was either Jim or Martin Ryan.

Iains posted a link to a very interesting piece about Father Flanagan (of Boys' Town) and his condemnation of the Industrial Schools. Please, take a look at it.

Now, there's an interesting bit of church political intrigue in the Domspatzen matter. Gerhard Ludwig Müller was Bishop of Regensburg 2002-2012. Here's what the Wikipedia article on Müller says:

In 2016, Fritz Wallner, a former chair of the lay diocesan council in Regensburg, Germany, alleged that Müller as Bishop of Regensburg had "systematically" thwarted the investigation of abuse in the "Regensburger Domspatzen" boys' choir. Georg Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI's brother, led the choir from 1964 to 1994. Müller insisted that neither the church nor its bishops were responsible for abusers. In February 2012, he said that "if a schoolteacher abuses a child, it is not the school nor the Ministry of Education that are to blame." He maintained that only the perpetrator is guilty. In 2016, a commission of 12 members was instituted to address the history of abuse and its cover-up in the boys' choir, a move critics viewed as long overdue. Wallner called for the church to purge any person associated with Müller, who had overseen the church's response to the allegations. In July 2017, a comprehensive report on abuse at the boys choirs said that Müller had "clear responsibility for the strategic, organizational and communicative weaknesses" of the church's response when the abuses were first reported.

In 2012, Benedict XVI appointed Müller Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) [once known as the Holy Office, or the Holy Inquisition]. Müller's 5-year term was up in 2017, and Pope Francis did not renew his contract - i.e., Müller was sacked. And Müller did not take his removal gracefully. He complained about the short notice of the non-renewal, and chose to retire rather than accepting a new assighment. It will be interesting to see whether Müller will be another troublemaking "Cardinal without portfolio" like the renegade Cardinal Burke.
Both Burke and Müller come from the old school, which believes in the "discipline" that appears to have been the rule at the Regensburger Domspatzen, along with a belief in obedience to top-down management. Trouble is, Burke and Müller don't like the guy at the top, and seem to be almost in open rebellion against Francis.

-Joe-