Vic Pedophile Cluster Just "an Accident"

By Patrick Caruana and Daniel Fogarty
Brisbane Times
May 3, 2013

http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/breaking-news-national/vic-pedophile-cluster-just-an-accident-20130503-2iww7.html

The Christian Brothers say it was an "accident of history" that four pedophiles taught at a small Victorian school at the same time.

The Catholic order denies having a culture which encouraged pedophilia, despite confirming more than 200 cases of abuse in Victoria and that four of their members abused children at Ballarat's St Alipius primary school in the 1970s.

The order's deputy province leader, Brother Julian McDonald, said he had no explanation for why the pedophiles emerged at the same place.

"It's certainly an accident of history," he told a Victorian parliamentary inquiry on Friday.

"Was there a culture that encouraged that? I don't believe there is evidence that there was."

Between 1971 and 1974, Brother Robert Best, Brother Edward Dowlan, Brother Stephen Farrell and Brother Fitzgerald were the only male teachers at the school. All, except Fitzgerald, are convicted pedophiles.

The Christian Brothers admit Fitzgerald, who is dead, was also a pedophile.

And the school's chaplain was father Gerald Ridsdale, one of Australia's worst pedophiles, who is currently in jail after 67 complaints of sexual abuse were made against him.

The inquiry previously heard it was a "tragic mistake" that Ridsdale was allowed to continue in the ministry after abuse allegations surfaced in Ballarat in 1975.

Brother McDonald said abuse complaints were made against two of the Ballarat brothers in the 1970s, but police were not told.

"Tragically I believe the only action that was taken was that they were reprimanded for what they had done," he said.

"This was because the leaders saw the offending as a moral failure."

He denied there was an official policy of concealing child abuse from police.

"It's not a policy of cover-up. They're incidents of cover-up by people within leadership," he said.

Victims say the church has covered up abuse, a claim Brother McDonald rejected.

"I'm sure it would not have been interpreted as a cover-up," he said.

"In hindsight, certainly that's what it looks like. The community can certainly be excused for interpreting it that way."

Shane Wall, co-executive officer of the professional standards office at the Christian Brothers, admitted the order had a culture of putting the clergy ahead of abuse victims in the past.

"I would say there was certainly a culture of protect the reputations ... and not having a focus on having the safety of children paramount," he said.

Brother McDonald said clergy members in the 1970s were given privileges by police and other members of society because of a "perception that they were beyond offending".

The order has received 266 abuse complaints from Victoria and paid out about $10.5 million to victims.

The Catholic Church's Melbourne Response compensation panel chair, David Curtain QC, rejected suggestions from abuse support groups that his job was to buy victims' silence.

"I am not against them. My job is to assist them," he said.

Six Christian brothers have been jailed for sex abuse, with the order spending almost $1 million on Best's legal fees.

Brother McDonald said the decision to keep Best in the order was made so he could be monitored.

"I believe we have an obligation to the community not to let people like Best loose in the community unsupervised," he said.

The inquiry also heard the Catholic Church's national Towards Healing process has substantiated 307 allegations of abuse in Victoria.

"I am deeply ashamed of the appalling actions and crimes of some church personnel," said Sister Angela Ryan, executive officer of the national committee for professional standards at Towards Healing.

The inquiry also heard that 31 Catholic teachers have been deregistered for inappropriate behaviour in the past 11 years.