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Accusations of Abuse in Institutions

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The Press
March 18, 2003

Confronting the past
Editorial

The agreement by a Catholic Order to pay a total of $4 million to those allegedly abused while in its care is both necessary and welcome. It signals, however belatedly, that the St John of God Order is prepared to confront its past demons by helping exorcise the painful memories of 56 complainants. Yet the hope of the Order's Australasian head, Brother Peter Burke, that the payments will bring "a sad and sorry situation to closure" can only prove unfulfilled.

Unfortunately for Brother Burke, no amount of money today can truly atone for the enormity of what occurred at Marylands, for which the term sad and sorry is a gross understatement. The sexual abuse is alleged to have taken place over several decades and to have involved about a dozen of the Order's brothers. The victims had also been placed in its care because of learning or intellectual difficulties. This surely amounted to institutional or systematic sexual abuse of extremely vulnerable children.

The Order's present approach is, however, a welcome reversal of past attempts to sweep such allegations under the carpet. The conviction of one former Marylands brother in 1993 for indecencies against boys, several of which occurred at the school, apparently did not lead to an attempt to discover the extent of the problem, a necessary first step to identifying and dealing with abuse victims. And when such victims did come forward and were compensated, the settlements were hedged with gagging clauses.

The process followed in this latest offer, including initial good faith payments late last year and the oversight role of a former High Court judge, is a welcome contrast to the previous clerical secrecy. So, too, is the assurance from Brother Burke that his Order will never again let down the Marylands victims. Whether the Order's openness now would have occurred without the scrutiny of it by The Press is, of course, an open question. The Marylands offers are, however, a lead for other Orders more reluctant to deal with their own abuse allegations. They must realise that the option to reaching settlements directly with victims is protracted legal action.

The extent to which the payments will provide closure for Marylands victims remains to be seen. Some 56 of the 70 complainants are so far being offered compensation, with the balance of the complaints to be dealt with shortly. It is unclear how many will agree with the Order's monetary assessment of the damage they sustained. Others have suggested that they also want the chance to confront their alleged abusers. Even from the victims' perspective, therefore, this settlement offer might not end matters.

And while the offer is undeniably a positive step for victims, on the other side of the equation are the perpetrators -- both those who allegedly carried out the sexual abuse and those in authority whose silence condoned it. A small police team is attempting to reconstruct precisely what did occur at Marylands, but it is a task made more difficult by the passage of time. The Order has taken internal action against several of those alleged to have been responsible for sexual abuse at Marylands. Even as it finalises its settlement offers to victims, it must not stint in providing every assistance to attempts at substantiating the full facts of more than two decades of shame.