Former Christian Brothers Leader Says Nsw Police Told the Order to Transfer Brother or They Would Arrest Him

By Janet Fife-yeomans
Daily Telegraph
May 7, 2014

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/former-christian-brothers-leader-says-nsw-police-told-the-order-to-transfer-brother-or-they-would-arrest-him/story-fni0cx12-1226909014579

Brother Julian McDonald (right) leaves court with Frances Sullivan from the Truth and Justice Healing Council. Source: News Corp Australia

A FORMER leader of the Christian Brothers has claimed the NSW police told the order to transfer a paedophile brother interstate or they would arrest him.

Brother Julian McDonald, who was the leader of the NSW and Victorian province from 1990, said he found the request “frankly incredible”.

He told the child sex abuse royal commission that it had happened under the officership of his predecessor and the brother had been transferred to houses with no contact with children.

“Regrettably the police in NSW said to my predecessor ‘transfer this brother interstate or we will arrest him’,” Brother McDonald said.

“I could not condone it or live with that, quite frankly.”

He said that particular brother and another brother had both been sent to the US for “treatment” and neither had reoffended.

Brother Julian McDonald (right) leaves court with Frances Sullivan from the Truth and Justice Healing Council. Source: News Corp Australia

However since the royal commission was set up, the name of one of them had been referred to police and “he put his hand up and said ‘Yes I did it’,” Brother Julian said.

Neither of the brothers nor where they had been working has been revealed.

Brother McDonald said that back in 1973, the order began psychological testing and “most of us came out fairly normal.”

Counsel assisting the commission asked him: “Fairly normal?”

Brother McDonald said: “Well, where do all normal people live?”

The commission, which is investigating the handling of physical and sexual abuse at four notorious Christian Brothers orphanages until 1968, has been told that while recruitment to the order was drying up in Australia, it was expanding in Africa, India and Papua New Guinea.

There was no training manual informing them about the dangers of abuse but they were all told about the terrible history of the Christian Brothers and told: “As a consequence of that, you know you’re a potential offender,” Brother McDonald said.

He said that current brothers were told that they should go to a treatment centre voluntarily if they thought they needed it.

He said they were told: “If you have any worries about abberant behaviour of yours that you only know about, then feel free to go for an assessment and do a course.”

The hearing in Perth is expected to wind up today.