Father Brian Joseph Spillane, Australia

Broken Rites
April 18, 2012

http://brokenrites.alphalink.com.au/nletter/page164-spillane.html

Broken Rites Australia has researched the career of Catholic priest Brian Joseph Spillane, who was sentenced to jail in Sydney on 19 April 2012.

Brian Spillane, C.M., has spent most of his working life as a Catholic priest in the Vincentian religious order (also called the Congregation of the Mission — hence the intials "C.M." after his name).

A part of his career was spent as a priest working at St Stanislaus College — a Catholic day and boarding secondary school for boys, located at Bathurst, in the central west of New South Wales.

Father Spillane also ministered in Catholic parishes in Sydney and Queensland and he toured other states in Australia, visiting various parishes.

Career outline

Brian Joseph Spillane was born about 1943. He has stated that he joined the Vincentian order in 1960 (that is, he began training for the Vincentian priesthood). The Australian electoral rolls from 1964 to 1968 listed Brian Joseph Leonard Spillane as a student, located at a Vincentian address in Balaclava Road, Marsfield,Sydney.

He was evidently ordained in the late 1960s (the 1969 Australian electoral roll listed him at St Stanislaus College, Bathurst, as a priest).

According to a St Stanislaus College yearbook, Spillane served two periods at this school, totalling 19 years. The first was from 1968 to 1978, during which he had various roles: a form master of various forms from year 7 to year 12; a dormitory master; a full-time teacher of many subjects, mainly language; a sports coach; the dean of discipline; a lieutenant in the cadet unit; and supervisor of the band.

The pupils boarding at St Stanislaus came from towns and farms throughout New South Wales.

Vincentian priests and brothers were living on the college premises.

From 1979 to 1983, Father Spillane was away from St Stanislaus, doing parish and mission work. He spent time at St Anthony's parish in Marsfield, Sydney, where he is mentioned (for example) in a Marsfield parish newsletter in 1980.

In 1984 he returned to St Stanislaus College, where he was the school chaplain (the Australian electoral rolls listed him there from 1984 to 1991). By about 1990, according to the annual Directory of Australian Catholic Clergy, he was listed as the Superior of the Vincentians living at St Stanislaus College.

Spillane left St Stanislaus College at the end of 1991 and was succeeded as college chaplain by Father Greg Cooney. Spillane was still remembered in the school's 1992 yearbook, in which the two Year Seven classes were each named after a teacher (one of these classes was labelled in the 1992 yearbook as "Year 7 Spillane").

In the early 1990s Father Spillane ministered at a Vincentian parish (Mary Immaculate) at Southport on Queensland's Gold Coast. From 1995 to 1997, according to the annual Directory of Australian Catholic Clergy, his postal address was the Catholic Mission, Oxenford, near the Gold Coast.

From 1998 to 2004 he was listed as the Parish Priest at a Vincentian parish (St Vincent's) in Ashfield, Sydney.

The above-mentioned addresses were Father Spillane's official workplaces but these were not necessarily his only residential addresses. From the late 1980s onwards, Father Hugh Murray of the Vincentian order conducted a community centre in Tempe House, at Arncliffe, Sydney. Fr Hugh Murray has said that Vincentian priests who spent time living at this address included Brian Spillane.

In 2004, Brian Spillane left the Vincentian order and began living privately in Sydney.

Brian Spillane is charged

In 2008 and 2009, following an investigation by police, the New South Wales Office of Public Prosecutions charged Brian Joseph Spillane with sexual offences against young people (including boys and girls).

Spillane pleaded not-guilty to all charges. This plea necessitates a trial by jury. The female victims were grouped together in one trial, which was held first (with the male victims to follow in separate proceedings, using a different jury).

A legal team has been contesting the court proceedings on Spillane's behalf.

Brian Spillane is found guilty of offences against girls

In Sydney in November 2010, a New South Wales District Court jury found Brian Joseph Spillane (aged 67) guilty of indecently assaulting three girls aged between six and seventeen.

This trial, concerning the girls, took up the whole of November 2010. After hearing all the evidence concerning the girls, the jury took nearly four days to reach its verdict.

The jury convicted Spillane on nine counts of indecent assault against three girls. The alleged events occurred in the 1970s and early 1980s in various circumstances:

Some of the offences against girls allegedly occurred when Spillane visited a family in a rural area in north-western New South Wales. Spillane had become acquainted with this family as a result of his work in Bathurst.

Other offences against girls allegedly occurred while Spillane was working (in 1979 onwards) from a Vincentian base in Marsfield, a Sydney suburb. He became the leader of a group of Vincentian priests and brothers at Marsfield and he also carried out duties in the local Catholic parish (which was staffed by Vincentians) and at the local parish primary school.

For three years from early 1981 Spillane joined a "renewal team" led by the Australian head of the Vincentian order which visited Vincentian parishes around Australia promoting Catholic teachings. During these years, Spillane remained in contact with the Marsfield parish.

The court was told that Spillane gained access to children through his role as a Catholic priest. The prosecutor, Brad Hughes, told the court that Spillane "would not have been within a bull's roar of these girls if he hadn't been a priest."

The court was told that friendly families welcomed him to their homes. He conducted Mass in their sitting rooms, played games with their children and, according to the evidence, abused their daughters. Spillane would sometimes appear at a family’s house uninvited, the court was told. One mother told the court how Spillane brought presents for the parents and the children.

The court heard how Spillane’s role as a priest protected him. Some of the children mentioned vaguely to their parents that Father Spillane had touched them. There was no evidence in court that any of the parents (or any of the church authorities) reported Spillane to the police at the time of the incidents.

The court was told that, while hearing Confession of children in his parish, Spillane would invite children as young as eight to sit on his lap. Spillane told the court that this “was my pastoral approach to break down the barrier between the fearful God and the loving God."

The court charges in the Sydney court proceedings were confined to incidents that allegedly occurred within New South Wales. The court heard about an incident involving a girl in Queensland but this matter is outside the jurisdiction of the NSW courts.

Bail refused

On 30 November 2010, after the jury verdicts, the court heard an application by Brian Joseph Spillane, seeking to be released on bail while he would be waiting for further court proceedings. Spillane was refused bail and was removed from the court in custody pending his next court appearance.

Attempt to stop the proceedings

Meanwhile, Spillane's legal team raised certain objections regarding the proposed sentence proceedings (involving the female victims) and also regarding subsequent proposed court proceedings (involving a number of male victims).

These objections needed be debated at length in the courts, including the New South Wales Court of Appeal, and this caused a delay in the proceedings.

Finally, in early April 2012, the NSW Court of Appeal cleared the way for the Brian Joseph Spillane proceedings to resume.

Sentenced, April 2012

On 19 April 2012, after Spillane had been in custody for 17 months, Judge Michael Finnane sentenced him in the Sydney District Court regarding the female victims.

In his sentencing remarks, the judge called each assault "serious, planned and callous".

He said Spillane's position as a priest and his "standing in the community" allowed him to gain access to the homes of his victims, many of whom came from devout Catholic families.

Some of the offences occurred when Spillane was alone with his victims in their bedrooms for night-time prayers.

One happened in a car after he had said Mass at a memorial service.

"He was very trusted and the parents of each of the victims readily gave him access to their daughters because of that trust and the esteem in which he was held," Judge Finnane said.

"The victims in this trial were all girls to whom he got access when he was conducting parish missions or ... when he was visiting a country town.

"It was sexual abuse carried out by a trusted priest and was a major breach of trust."

The judge said Spillane had shown no remorse and no contrition for his offending "which means that there can be little hope of rehabilitation".

Jail term

The judge sentenced Spillane to jail for nine years with a non-parole period of five years.

The sentence would be dated from November 2010, when Spillane was remanded in custody. Taking into account the time already served in custody, Spillane would be eligible for parole in November 2015.

After completing the remainder of his sentence on parole, his total sentence (regarding these female victims) would expire on November 29, 2019.

Allegations re assaults on boys

During the bail hearing in 2010, the court was told that Brian Joseph Spillane is facing further court proceedings on charges involving offences allegedly committed against a number of boys.

The bail hearing was given details of allegations by a number of male complainants concerning Brian Joseph Spillane. These charges are to be heard in a series of District Court proceedings that are still be scheduled.