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Accusations of Abuse in Institutions

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The Dominion
June 19, 2002

Man says Church paid him to keep quiet
NZPA

A Catholic religious order buried a potential child sex-abuse scandal by secretly paying a Christchurch man $30,000.

The 1999 payout came after abuse allegations against a brother who taught boys with learning disabilities at Marylands residential school in Christchurch.

The complainant, now 51, said the Church bought his silence when it learnt of his ordeal.

The man was so spooked by secrecy demands from the St John of God Order that he fed his copy of the deal into a garden mulcher and dropped out of group therapy. "I sort of felt threatened -- and I still do actually," the man, who asked to be called Patrick, said.

This is believed to be the first time a confidential settlement involving the Catholic Church in New Zealand has been made public, and comes after a wave of sex-abuse shocks in other countries. It comes at a time when St John of God is under siege in Australia after paying $3.64 million in compensation to 24 intellectually disabled men who were sexually abused. About 20 brothers were alleged to be involved.

Another St John of God brother who worked at Marylands, Bernard Kevin McGrath, was jailed for three years in 1993 after admitting 10 charges of indecencies on schoolboys. Half of them related to his time at Marylands in the mid-1970s. The order has also paid compensation to McGrath's victims.

Patrick's payout of $30,000 in July 1999 followed an investigation by the Catholic Church's Christchurch protocol committee on behalf of the St John of God Order. The agreement forbids Patrick to comment on or publish his claims or the agreement. It says he must repay the money to the St John of God Order -- within seven days -- should he breach the agreement.

Christchurch lawyer Lee Robinson, who has represented the order for 20 years, said the strict secrecy clauses would have been standard "for the protection of both parties".

Brother Peter Burke, the Australasian head of the St John of God Order, said he had no knowledge of the deal, but was deeply troubled by its gagging clauses. "That's the first I've actually heard of this and I'm absolutely shocked to hear that," he said, vowing to investigate.

Critics argue the Church has in effect paid hush money to bury a potential scandal. St John of God made the payment just 15 months after signing a new Catholic protocol to deal openly and honestly with the scourge of sexual abuse.

Patrick was about nine when he was sent to Marylands, a school for slow learners, in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

The brother at the centre of his claims is now in his 80s and living in a New South Wales retirement home.