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Accusations of Abuse in Institutions

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The Timaru Herald
June 25, 2002

Woman tells of son's plight at Catholic school


A Timaru woman whose son attended a Catholic school at the centre of sexual abuse allegations says the issue is not just about paedophilia but also the abuse of trust.

A total of $300,000 has been paid to five victims of four St John of God brothers at Marylands residential school in Christchurch.

For Anne Hudson, whose son Campbell attended the school for eight years from 1966, the abuse was a monstrous abuse of trust.

"The men were in the position of trust as caregivers, teachers and role models to some of the most vulnerable people in society -- the intellectually compromised innocent children who were placed there by their parents who, like me, felt secure in the knowledge that our precious and loved family member would be safe in their care."

Anne is not making any allegations against the brothers in relation to her son.

Twenty years after he left the school, she told him one of the brothers had been convicted and jailed for sexually abusing one of the boys at the school.

She asked Campbell if they had ever touched him.

He said he didn't think so.

Eleven weeks later, Campbell, aged 37, committed suicide.

Anne will never know for sure what led him to that decision.

It's hard to talk about even now, and she misses the boy who went on to hold down a full-time job, to marry, to become a man who had everyone who met him eating out of the palm of his hand, a man with a terrific sense of humour who was striving all the time to keep up with his three clever brothers.

She said the St John of God Brothers -- educated and holy men -- having found celibacy too difficult to handle, had several choices available to them, -- relieving their sexual appetites themselves, subduing their emotions with a stiff whisky, or leaving the order.

"Instead, they remained safe as a church, ever mindful that few would believe the allegations of a handicapped person over a member of a religious order."

Campbell travelled to the Christchurch school from Central Otago by plane, boarded there during the school term, and came home for the holidays.

Anne remembers that Campbell never wanted to return to the school after holidays, but put that down to boarding school. She remembered feeling the same during her own years at a Catholic boarding school.

Nothing else entered her head, and she had no real cause for concern at the time.

Anne hasn't talked much about this -- she knows there's not much else she can do other than bury it and get over it. She doesn't plan to take any action.

"I've got nothing to gain from it, I can't prove anything, the money won't bring Campbell back, or heal my distress."

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CAPTION:

Anne Hudson with a photograph of her son Campbell who, as a child, attended a Catholic school now at the centre of sexual abuse allegations. _ Photo: John Bisset