Catholic sexual abuse scandal in Australia
Encyclopedia
The Catholic sexual abuse scandal in Australia is part of the wider Catholic sexual abuse scandal which are a series of convictions, trials and ongoing investigations into allegations of sex crimes committed by Catholic priests and members of religious orders
.
As at August 2011, according to Broken Rites
, a support and advocacy group for church-related sex abuse victims, there have been over one hundred cases where Catholic priests have been charged for child sex offences in Australia, as well as others involving non custodial sentences and inconclusive proceedings. There are also numerous cases involving members of religious orders (both priests and brothers) and lay teachers, although the latter are not the subject of this article. Other sources of concern in addition to the abuse itself was the failure of the Roman Catholic Church to prevent future abuse by clergy who had come to attention of religious authorities (of dioceses, religious orders or schools), transferring clergy and religious to further opportunities for abuse, the handling of allegations of abuse, and the continuing honouring within the church of known sex offenders.
Nick Xenophon
used parliamentary privilege to name an Adelaide priest as the alleged perpetrator of six sexual assaults on a male about 50 years earlier. Senator Xenophon alleged that the Vicar-General of Adelaide, Monsignor David Cappo, had been provided with detailed allegations in 2008 but had failed to act upon them, the investigations still being "at a preliminary stage" and the priest concerned not being stood down during the investigation.
Father Albert Davis (d. 2007), a member of the Dominican Fathers was charged in 2006 with 17 incidents of indecent assault involving seven boys at Blackfriars Priory School
between 1956 and 1960. Davis was committed to stand trial in the Adelaide District Court, but he died before proceedings were commenced.
Father Charles Barnett pleaded guilty in 2009 (after extradition from Indonesia) to 3 child sex charges for events between 1977 and 1985 at Crystal Brook and Port Pirie.
, accused of indecently assaulting eight male Year 5 students at a Daceyville school in south-east Sydney in 1974, plead guilty to some of the 21 charges.
, Yass
and Sydney. Kiss was the Catholic Diocesan Director of Youth in Wagga Wagga at the time of the offences and the four victims were members of the Young Christian Students Association.
alleged that Gwynneville parish priest Father Peter Lewis Comensoli and Brother Michael Evans had been involved in the sexual abuse of boys. Comensoli was jailed and was later named during the Wood Royal Commission
. Evans committed suicide.
In 2010, Kelvin Gerald Sharkey, 83, was sentenced in the Wollongong District Court to at least 15 months jail for sexually abusing an altar boy on three occasions between 1969 and 1975 when Sharkey was parish priest of St John Vianney's church at Fairy Meadow and at St Bernard's church at Batemans Bay.
in Bathurst in the mid-1980s. Having been asked by the boy's parents to counsel him in relation to prior sexual abuse, Irwin kissed the youth and initiated mutual masturbation when the pair stayed at the boarding school overnight during a road trip in 1986. Irwin was later a dormitory master at St Stanislaus' for two years and a chaplain and teacher at St Aloysius' College at Milsons Point.
Kevin Francis Phillips, similarly, pleaded guilty in a Sydney District Court on 3 December 2010 to four counts of gross indecency with a child under the age of 18. Phillips was sentenced on 21 April 2011 to a total of 15 months jail. On the first three counts, he was sentenced to a concurrent term of nine months starting on 21 April 2011 and expiring on 20 January 2012. On the final charge of gross indecency by a male with a male under 18 years, Phillips was sentenced to a term of nine months to start on 21 October 2011 and expiring on 20 July 2012 with a non-parole period of three months.
Brian Joseph Spillane also was convicted on 30 November 2010 on nine counts of indecent assault against three girls aged between eight and seventeen while he was based in Sydney in about 1979, a Vincentian priest at that time. During bail proceedings it was heard that Spillaine faces a further 135 charges relating to alleged offences against boys at St Stanislaus' College whilst Spillaine was chaplin. These latter charges are expected to be heard in four more trials that are expected to last until late 2011. Spillaine was refused bail.
. A teacher at Daramalan College
in Canberra was also charged with numerous sexual assaults in 2000; however he committed suicide shortly after he was charged.
, Pope Benedict XVI
lamented that child sex abuse had taken place and the pain it caused. He also condemned those responsible for it and demanded punishment for them. However, he did not state or imply that the institutional church, or any of its leaders, accepted any responsibility for what had taken place. His statement reads:
On 21 July 2008, before flying out of Australia, Pope Benedict met at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, with two male and two female victims of sex abuse by priests. He listened to their stories and celebrated Mass with them. The Premier of New South Wales, Morris Iemma
, said that "Hopefully it will be a sign of righting the wrongs of the past and of a better future and better treatment by the church of the victims and their families." Mark Fabbro, a victim of abuse and member of the Catholic Abuse Survivors Collective, said that while he was “happy to receive the apology, we still consider it indirect and insufficient”. Chris MacIsaac of the victims' rights advocacy group Broken Rites
said the Pope had taken his apology further than his previous comments on the issue as he has "never put it quite so strongly before", but expressed disappointment that the Pope had not made his apology directly to sexual abuse victims. One Australian victim of sexual abuse by a Catholic priest has stated in the media: Dealing with the church itself was a hell of a lot more traumatic than dealing with the abuse.
Abuse by members of Roman Catholic orders
As distinct from abuse by some parish priests, who are subject to diocesan control, there has also been abuse by members of Roman Catholic orders, which often care for the sick or teach at school...
.
As at August 2011, according to Broken Rites
Broken Rites
Broken Rites is an organisation that is dedicated to exposing and denouncing cases in the Catholic sexual abuse scandal in Australia.The association has detailed 71 cases where Catholic priests have been convicted and jailed for child sex offences in Australia...
, a support and advocacy group for church-related sex abuse victims, there have been over one hundred cases where Catholic priests have been charged for child sex offences in Australia, as well as others involving non custodial sentences and inconclusive proceedings. There are also numerous cases involving members of religious orders (both priests and brothers) and lay teachers, although the latter are not the subject of this article. Other sources of concern in addition to the abuse itself was the failure of the Roman Catholic Church to prevent future abuse by clergy who had come to attention of religious authorities (of dioceses, religious orders or schools), transferring clergy and religious to further opportunities for abuse, the handling of allegations of abuse, and the continuing honouring within the church of known sex offenders.
Archdiocese of Adelaide
On 13 September 2011, SenatorAustralian Senate
The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...
Nick Xenophon
Nick Xenophon
Nicholas "Nick" Xenophon is a South Australian barrister, anti-gambling campaigner and politician. He attended Prince Alfred College, and studied law at the University of Adelaide, attaining his Bachelor of Laws in 1981. Xenophon established and became principal of his own law firm, Xenophon & Co....
used parliamentary privilege to name an Adelaide priest as the alleged perpetrator of six sexual assaults on a male about 50 years earlier. Senator Xenophon alleged that the Vicar-General of Adelaide, Monsignor David Cappo, had been provided with detailed allegations in 2008 but had failed to act upon them, the investigations still being "at a preliminary stage" and the priest concerned not being stood down during the investigation.
Father Albert Davis (d. 2007), a member of the Dominican Fathers was charged in 2006 with 17 incidents of indecent assault involving seven boys at Blackfriars Priory School
Blackfriars Priory School
Blackfriars Priory School is a private Roman Catholic school situated in Prospect, a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia, conducted by the Dominican Friars of the Province of the Assumption. For over 50 years the school has provided an education program for boys from Year 3 to Year 12, however, in...
between 1956 and 1960. Davis was committed to stand trial in the Adelaide District Court, but he died before proceedings were commenced.
Father Charles Barnett pleaded guilty in 2009 (after extradition from Indonesia) to 3 child sex charges for events between 1977 and 1985 at Crystal Brook and Port Pirie.
Archdiocese of Sydney
In 2007, Ross Murrin, 52, a former Sydney Catholic school teacher and Marist brotherMarist Brothers
The Marist Brothers, or Little Brothers of Mary, are a Catholic religious order of brothers and affiliated lay people. The order was founded in France, at La Valla-en-Gier near Lyon in 1817 by Saint Marcellin Champagnat, a young French priest of the Society of Mary...
, accused of indecently assaulting eight male Year 5 students at a Daceyville school in south-east Sydney in 1974, plead guilty to some of the 21 charges.
Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle
The diocese has been referred to as the "epicentre of Catholic clerical sexual abuse in Australia" due to a number of paedophile priests with extensive abuse records being jailed since 1997: Father Vincent Ryan (a $6 million compensation payout to victims setting a record for the Catholic Church in Australia), Father David O'Hearn (due to stand trial in June 2010) and Father James Fletcher (died in jail in 2006). John Sidney Denham pleaded guilty to 29 child sex charges involving 27 boys under his care while a Roman Catholic priest in Newcastle in the 1970s. It has been alleged that the Archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson, knew about clerical sexual abuse when serving in the NSW diocese of Maitland-Newcastle in the late 1970s and 1980s.Diocese of Wagga Wagga
In 2002, Vincent Kieran Kiss, 70, pleaded guilty in the Sydney District Court for sex crimes against four teenage boys, aged 13 to 17, between 1966 and 1973 at locations including AlburyAlbury, New South Wales
Albury is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia, located on the Hume Highway on the northern side of the Murray River. It is located wholly within the boundaries of the City of Albury Local Government Area...
, Yass
Yass, New South Wales
Yass is a town in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia in Yass Valley Shire. The name appears to have been derived from an Aboriginal word, "Yarrh" , said to mean 'running water'....
and Sydney. Kiss was the Catholic Diocesan Director of Youth in Wagga Wagga at the time of the offences and the four victims were members of the Young Christian Students Association.
Diocese of Wollongong
In 1993, the Illawarra MercuryIllawarra Mercury
The Illawarra Mercury is the only daily newspaper in Wollongong, the third largest city in the State of New South Wales, Australia. It has been published since 1855, making it one of Australia's oldest newspapers...
alleged that Gwynneville parish priest Father Peter Lewis Comensoli and Brother Michael Evans had been involved in the sexual abuse of boys. Comensoli was jailed and was later named during the Wood Royal Commission
Royal Commission into the New South Wales Police Service
The Royal Commission into the New South Wales Police Service was held in the State of New South Wales, Australia between 1995 and 1997. The Royal Commissioner was Justice James Roland Wood...
. Evans committed suicide.
In 2010, Kelvin Gerald Sharkey, 83, was sentenced in the Wollongong District Court to at least 15 months jail for sexually abusing an altar boy on three occasions between 1969 and 1975 when Sharkey was parish priest of St John Vianney's church at Fairy Meadow and at St Bernard's church at Batemans Bay.
Diocese of Bathurst
St Stanislaus College Bathurst in the 1970s and 80's has been referred to by an old boy as a 'pedophile paradise' due to the activities of pedophile priests there. William Stanley Irwin, 55, for instance, a former Catholic brother, was convicted on 31 March 2011 by a jury in the Sydney District Court on two counts of gross indecency on a male under the age of 18 at St Stanislaus' CollegeSt Stanislaus College (Bathurst)
St Stanislaus' College is a Roman Catholic, day and boarding school for boys, conducted by the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul's priests and brothers...
in Bathurst in the mid-1980s. Having been asked by the boy's parents to counsel him in relation to prior sexual abuse, Irwin kissed the youth and initiated mutual masturbation when the pair stayed at the boarding school overnight during a road trip in 1986. Irwin was later a dormitory master at St Stanislaus' for two years and a chaplain and teacher at St Aloysius' College at Milsons Point.
Kevin Francis Phillips, similarly, pleaded guilty in a Sydney District Court on 3 December 2010 to four counts of gross indecency with a child under the age of 18. Phillips was sentenced on 21 April 2011 to a total of 15 months jail. On the first three counts, he was sentenced to a concurrent term of nine months starting on 21 April 2011 and expiring on 20 January 2012. On the final charge of gross indecency by a male with a male under 18 years, Phillips was sentenced to a term of nine months to start on 21 October 2011 and expiring on 20 July 2012 with a non-parole period of three months.
Brian Joseph Spillane also was convicted on 30 November 2010 on nine counts of indecent assault against three girls aged between eight and seventeen while he was based in Sydney in about 1979, a Vincentian priest at that time. During bail proceedings it was heard that Spillaine faces a further 135 charges relating to alleged offences against boys at St Stanislaus' College whilst Spillaine was chaplin. These latter charges are expected to be heard in four more trials that are expected to last until late 2011. Spillaine was refused bail.
Archdiocese of Melbourne
- Michael Charles GlennonMichael Charles GlennonMichael Charles Glennon is a convicted Australian child molester and former Roman Catholic priest, one of the most notorious clergy sex abuse cases in that country. Glennon ran a youth camp in Lancefield, Victoria, where most of the abuse took place...
- sentenced to 22 years jail with a non-parole period of 15 years for sexually abusing four Aboriginal boys between 1984 and 1991 - David Daniel - sentenced to six years jail with a non-parole period of four years and six months for molesting four boys, a girl and an adult male.
- Rex Elmer - abuser sentenced in 1998 to five years jail with a non-parole period of 3 years and 4 months for molesting 12 boys at St Vincent's orphanage in South Melbourne.
- Father Michael Aulsebrook and priests Frank Klep and David Rapon were investigated and prosecuted for sexual abuse that took place at Rupertswood College Sunbury in the 1990s.
Diocese of Ballarat
- Gerry Francis RidsdaleGerry Francis RidsdaleGerald Francis Ridsdale is a convicted child molester who abused children while working as a Catholic priest.-Early life:Gerald Francis Ridsdale was born at St Arnaud, Victoria, in western Victoria, the eldest of eight children...
pleaded guilty to 81 child sex offences, including buggery, indecent assault and gross indecency against 41 children (comprising 40 boys and one girl). He is serving a total jail sentence of 28 years with a non-parole period of 19 years; he will be eligible for parole in 2013. - On 8 August 2011, Robert Charles Best, a Christian Brother, was sentenced in the Victorian County Court to a 14 years and nine months custodial term, with a non-parole period of 11 years and three months, for 27 offences involving sexual abuse of 11 boys. The offences included the rape of a 9 year old physically impaired Year 3 pupil at St Alipius' Primary School in Ballarat in which the boy lost consciousness after the rape and was beaten by another Christian Brother until he denied anything had happened. Best has not been expelled by the Christian Brothers and the order has expended more than A$1 million on his legal costs.
Diocese of Townsville
- Neville Joseph Creen - molested young girls while he served as a priest at Mount Isa, north-west Queensland, from 1973 to 1981. In Brisbane District Court on 12 September 2003, Creen (aged 63) was sentenced to three-and-half years' jail with a 14 month minimum after admitting to 34 indecent dealing charges involving 18 girls under the age of 13. One girl was aged just 5 when Creen abused her at a youth camp and later at the home of her grandparents. Creen pleaded guilty to a further six charges on 4 November 2004 and was sentenced to an additional two years jail.
Archdiocese of Perth
In 1995, Gerard William Dick, a self-confessed sexually abusive priest, was sentenced to three and a half years jail for 10 incidents of indecently dealing with boys aged between 8 to 10 at a Christian Brothers' orphanage in Western Australia. David Christian was fined A$10,500 on seven charges of indecently assaulting boys at the Marist Brothers school.Diocese of Bunbury
- Adrian Richard Van Klooster - plead guilty to four counts of indecently dealing with children under the age of 13 and was found with child pornography on his computer.
Marist Fathers of Tasmania
- In 2007 Gregory Ferguson was sentenced to two years jail (eligible for parole after 12 months) for offences in 1971 against two boys aged 13 at Marist College, Burnie, Tasmania. On 13 December 2007 he was sentenced to an additional three years' jail for offences against a third boy.
- In 2008 a jury found former priest Roger Michael Bellemore guilty on three counts of maintaining a sexual relationship with a young person under the age of 17 years in the 1960s and 1970s, while he was at the same College.
Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn
In February 2008, a teacher at Marist College Canberra, Brother John William Chute, (also known as Brother Kostka), pleaded guilty in the ACT Magistrates Court to 11 charges of indecently assaulting students of the college during the 1980s. Damages for sexual abuse have also been sought by former students at Marist College CanberraMarist College Canberra
Marist College Canberra is an all-boys independent Catholic school school founded in 1968. The college is situated on 15 hectares and located in the Australian Capital Territory, Canberra. The college provides boys from years 4-12 with a well-rounded education. Founded by Marist Brothers, it...
. A teacher at Daramalan College
Daramalan College
Daramalan College is an ACT senior high school in Canberra, Australia, located in the suburb of Dickson, near the Dickson Shopping Centre. It provides education from year 7 to year 12 , in a co-educational environment. Run by the Roman Catholic Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, it has an emblem of...
in Canberra was also charged with numerous sexual assaults in 2000; however he committed suicide shortly after he was charged.
Pope Benedict's statement
On 19 July 2008, before a congregation of 3,400 assembled in Sydney's St Mary's CathedralSt Mary's Cathedral, Sydney
The Metropolitan Cathedral of St Mary is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney and the seat of the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell. The cathedral is dedicated to "Mary, Help of Christians", Patron of Australia...
, Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
lamented that child sex abuse had taken place and the pain it caused. He also condemned those responsible for it and demanded punishment for them. However, he did not state or imply that the institutional church, or any of its leaders, accepted any responsibility for what had taken place. His statement reads:
"Here I would like to pause to acknowledge the shame which we have all felt as a result of the sexual abuse of minors by some clergy and religious in this country. I am deeply sorry for the pain and suffering the victims have endured and I assure them that, as their pastor, I too share in their suffering. ... Victims should receive compassion and care, and those responsible for these evils must be brought to justice. These misdeeds, which constitute so grave a betrayal of trust, deserve unequivocal condemnation. I ask all of you to support and assist your bishops, and to work together with them in combating this evil. It is an urgent priority to promote a safer and more wholesome environment, especially for young people."
On 21 July 2008, before flying out of Australia, Pope Benedict met at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, with two male and two female victims of sex abuse by priests. He listened to their stories and celebrated Mass with them. The Premier of New South Wales, Morris Iemma
Morris Iemma
Morris Iemma , is a former Australian politician and 40th Premier of New South Wales, succeeding Bob Carr after he resigned on 3 August 2005. Iemma led the Australian Labor Party to victory in the 2007 election before resigning as Premier on 5 September 2008, and as a Member of Parliament on 19...
, said that "Hopefully it will be a sign of righting the wrongs of the past and of a better future and better treatment by the church of the victims and their families." Mark Fabbro, a victim of abuse and member of the Catholic Abuse Survivors Collective, said that while he was “happy to receive the apology, we still consider it indirect and insufficient”. Chris MacIsaac of the victims' rights advocacy group Broken Rites
Broken Rites
Broken Rites is an organisation that is dedicated to exposing and denouncing cases in the Catholic sexual abuse scandal in Australia.The association has detailed 71 cases where Catholic priests have been convicted and jailed for child sex offences in Australia...
said the Pope had taken his apology further than his previous comments on the issue as he has "never put it quite so strongly before", but expressed disappointment that the Pope had not made his apology directly to sexual abuse victims. One Australian victim of sexual abuse by a Catholic priest has stated in the media: Dealing with the church itself was a hell of a lot more traumatic than dealing with the abuse.
See also
- AbuseAbuseAbuse is the improper usage or treatment for a bad purpose, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, sexual assault, violation, rape, unjust practices; wrongful practice or custom; offense; crime, or otherwise...
- Child abuseChild abuseChild abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
- Child sexual abuseChild sexual abuseChild sexual abuse is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include asking or pressuring a child to engage in sexual activities , indecent exposure with intent to gratify their own sexual desires or to...
- Religious abuse
- Sexual abuseSexual abuseSexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another. When that force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or molester...
- Sexual misconductSexual misconductSexual misconduct is misconduct of a sexual nature. The term may be used to condemn an act, but in some jurisdictions it has also a legal meaning....
- Spiritual abuseSpiritual abuseSpiritual abuse is a serious form of abuse which occurs when a person in a cult-religious authority or a person with a unique spiritual practice misleads and maltreats another person in the name of a deityor church or in the mystery of any spiritual concept...
- Roman Catholicism in Australia
- William KammWilliam KammWilliam Kamm also known as The Little Pebble or the antipope Peter II the Roman is the leader of a religious group called the Order of St. Charbel, which claims however to be part of the Roman Catholic Church and due to be approved by the hierarchy...
- leader of a schismatic group whose sexual offences predate his schism from the church - Broken Rites AustraliaBroken RitesBroken Rites is an organisation that is dedicated to exposing and denouncing cases in the Catholic sexual abuse scandal in Australia.The association has detailed 71 cases where Catholic priests have been convicted and jailed for child sex offences in Australia...
- support and advocacy group for church-related sex abuse victims in Australia