Death of Brother Facing Child Sex Allegations

By Joanne Mccarthy
Newcastle Herald
January 13, 2015

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/2815048/death-of-brother-facing-child-sex-allegations/

A FORMER Marist Brother who taught at the order’s Maitland high school from 1977 has died in an apparent suicide only two months after child sex allegations were made against him.

A Hunter man made a statement to police in August alleging the Brother sexually abused him during a camping trip in the late 1970s while the man was a student at the school.

The Brother, 74, died on rail land at Oatley in October, on a night when ‘‘his judgment was dark and sense of hope disturbed’’, said Marist Provincial Brother Jeff Crowe in a eulogy at his funeral.

‘‘Something went very wrong for him that Sunday night. We will most likely never know exactly what. We have to let the question go,’’ Brother Crowe said.

The Hunter man from a respected Catholic family confirmed he had reported allegations to police in August. The Marist Brothers and Maitland-Newcastle diocese were also advised.

The Herald was told the allegations were put to the Brother in the period before he died.

In his eulogy Brother Crowe described the Brother as a loved and respected teacher and friend, but also an extremely private person.

He worked at Marist primary and high schools in Canberra, Queensland and NSW, including Maitland, Lismore and Kogarah, before studying in America in 1989 and returning to Australia to run adult spirituality programs.

A colleague recalled how the Brother ‘‘brought a whole new life to the experience of living in the Hunter valley’’ during his time at Maitland, and regularly went on camping trips in the region.

The Brother was also a health and fitness fanatic, who was ‘‘into exercise in a big way’’.

‘‘He prided himself on his youthful looks and even indulged at one stage in a bit of hair-dyeing,’’ Brother Crowe said.

Some students described the Brother as an inspirational teacher and mentor who left a lasting impression on them.

The NSW Coroner’s Office confirmed the Brother’s death, but said a formal cause of death would not be determined until investigations had been finalised.

THE Maitland Newcastle Catholic diocese has considered approaching the royal commission into child sexual abuse about the need for a study into suicides in the Hunter linked to church offenders.

In a statement yesterday Bishop Bill Wright said the diocese had already begun to discuss how to propose such a study to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

‘‘As Bishop of Maitland Newcastle I support an independent, rigorous, scientific research project into these issues,’’ he said

The statement followed Newcastle Herald articles about a Hunter group’s work compiling a list of more than 30 boys, teenagers and men who have died after suicides, drug overdoses or possible suicides linked to known and alleged child sex offenders within the Catholic church in the Hunter.