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Allegations
of Abuse in Institutions |
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Anne Hudson-Ramage does
not know for sure if childhood sexual abuse by Catholic brothers at Marylands
school prompted her son's suicide 11 years ago. But the grieving mother
from Timaru knew she had to attend Bernard McGrath's trial to reach some kind
of peace with her lapsed Catholic faith after hearing about the culture of
paedophilia at the school in the 1970s. "God and I haven't
been on talking terms for four years," she said, after watching McGrath
being found guilty of sexually molesting eight boys who were at the school at
the same time as her son. "I attended the
trial to find some resolution for myself and to resolve my issues with God
and to get back to my faith, if I can." Hudson-Ramage had
battled to get her mildly retarded son admitted to Marylands because he could
not get the kind of education he needed from the schools at their then home in
Roxburgh. He spent eight years at the school, between 1967 and 1975. She thought the strict
Catholic school would be good for him and had no inkling that there was what
the St John of God Order now accepts to have been a network of clergy and
brethren molesting children and protecting each other. Her son killed himself
soon after learning that McGrath had been jailed for sexual abuse at a
Catholic school in Australia, to which McGrath had been sent from Marylands. Hudson-Ramage said she
could accept that there were some child-molesting men at the school but found
it far more difficult to live with the knowledge that other brethren and
clergy failed to raise the alarm. "For evil to
succeed to such an extent, all that's required is for good men to do nothing.
There were good men at Marylands -- and they did nothing," she said. "I've had some
closure, just from listening to McGrath's videotaped interview. I think I'm
stronger." Hudson-Ramage was
hugged by Ken Clearwater, manager of the Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse
Trust, who is working with nearly 40 men who have reported being sexually
abused while attending Marylands. Five were complainants in the trial. Clearwater said he was
pleased the jury had returned 21 guilty verdicts but would have to talk to
the men over the next few days about the mixed success of the prosecution. "Right from the
word go, the prosecution and the defence said atrocities happened to children
at the school. This isn't the end." |
