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The Evening Post
June 19, 2002
Catholic Church paid $30,000 to gag sex victim
NZPA
A boy abused by a member of
a religious order at a Christchurch school says a secret payout hasn't helped.
-------------------
A Catholic religious order buried a potential child sex-abuse scandal by
secretly paying a
The 1999 pay-out followed abuse allegations against a Catholic brother who
taught boys with learning disabilities at a
The complainant, now 51, said the Church bought his silence when it learned of
his schoolboy ordeal. So spooked was the man 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," said the man,
who asked to be called Patrick.
This is believed to be the first time such a confidential settlement involving
the Catholic Church has been made public in
It comes at a time when St John of God is under siege in
Another St John of God brother who worked at
Half of them related to his time at
Patrick's pay-out of $30,000 in July 1999 followed an investigation by the
Catholic Church's
The secret agreement forbids Patrick to comment on or publish his claims or the
agreement. It dictates whom he can confide in and orders that he must repay the
money to the St John of God Order - within seven days - should he breach the
agreement.
Brother Peter Burke, the head of the St John of God Order in
"That's the first I've actually heard of this and I'm absolutely shocked
to hear that," he said, vowing to investigate.
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
The school was run by St John of God and it was there, in an upstairs room,
that the alleged abuse took place. Patrick claims he was made to reach through
the bottomless pocket of the brother's black cassock to fondle his penis. On
other occasions, Patrick alleges he was forced to perform oral sex.
Patrick required psychiatric treatment for a teenage breakdown, and has been on
anti-psychotic medication for most of his adult life.
"I built up a terrible lot of anger," he said.
When he finally steeled himself to seek help, St John of God responded to the
allegations by offering Patrick $30,000 on condition he keep quiet about his
claims.
The deed of release contains strict secrecy clauses, but no admission of
wrongdoing by St John of God or the brother at the centre of the allegations.
The brother is now in his 80s and living in a
In accepting the deal, Patrick is forbidden to "make any report or comment
or any communication of any type to any person or identity" about the deed
or any of his claims.
Patrick is speaking out in the hope he can prevent other children falling prey
to abusers within the Church.
Brother Peter has given his personal assurance that St John of God will not
seek to recover the money from Patrick. The order has now instructed its
lawyers that confidential clauses are to be removed from all such agreements in
future.
New Zealand Catholic Communications director Lyndsay Freer said the revelation
of a secret deal was "disturbing".