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Accusations of Abuse in Institutions

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The Waikato Times
June 19, 2002

Sex abuse secret aired
NZPA

A Catholic religious order buried a potential child sex abuse scandal by secretly paying a Christchurch man $30,000, The Press newspaper revealed yesterday.

The 1999 payout followed abuse allegations against a Catholic brother who taught boys with learning disabilities at a Christchurch residential school, Marylands.

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, 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 New Zealand, and follows a global wave of sex-abuse shocks.

NZ Catholic communications director Lyndsay Freer said the revelation of a secret deal here was "disturbing" in light of attempts by the Church to clean up its act.