The church compensates some victims at Melbourne's elite Xavier College

Broken Rites
May 6, 2015

http://brokenrites.org.au/drupal/node/233

Research by Broken Rites has uncovered some cases in which pupils have received compensation for clergy sexual abuse at one of Australia's most "prestigious" Catholic schools — Melbourne's Xavier College. This Broken Rites article contains four examples of Xavier cases.

Xavier College is owned by the Society of Jesus (known as the Jesuit religious order), which has inherited a "scholarly" public image.

Situated on a hill in Kew in Melbourne's leafy east, Xavier College opened as a boys' boarding school in 1878. In 1900 it was accepted into an association of Melbourne's most "prestigious" non-Catholic grammar schools.

Xavier established preparatory schools in Kew (Burke Hall, 1920) and Brighton (Kostka Hall, 1936). The prep schools cover the primary grades to Year 8. After completing the secondary years, at the main campus, many Xavier boys have been channelled into the professions of medicine, law, the church and the public service, thus helping to promote Xavier's elite image.

Here are some examples of church settlements regarding Xavier College :

One Xavier settlement relates to Father Patrick Stephenson, SJ , OBE, who was associated with Xavier College for more than fifty years (until 1991) as a teacher and as a mentor in the Old Xavierians' Association. Being involved in the education of thousands of boys, he was perhaps the school's most famous teacher, like Britain's legendary "Mr Chips", and was one of the most widely known Jesuits in the city of Melbourne. His OBE award (the Order of the British Empire) is an indication of his prominence in the general Melbourne community. The school has named a sports complex after him. He is now deceased.

A former student, who was at Xavier in the late 1960s and early 1970s, has complained to the Jesuits that Fr Paddy Stephenson, O.B.E., indecently mauled this boy's genitals. This constitutes a criminal offence — indecent assault. This student says he was not the only victim. He (and other boys) reported Stephenson's behaviour at the time to another Jesuit priest (a religious education teacher) but this Jesuit was dismissive and "didn't want to know about it". Evidently, the ex-student says, the Jesuits were concerned to protect the school's image. Eventually, many years later, this ex-student has tackled the Jesuit authorities with an official complaint. The Jesuits have reached a confidential settlement with this ex-student, thereby still protecting the school's image. And the school's sports complex is still named in honour of the famous Fr Patrick Stephenson, OBE.

Another Xavier settlement relates to Brother Paul Schulze, SJ, who taught at Xavier College's prep school, Burke Hall, in the 1960s. A former student, who went to Burke Hall at the age of ten, tackled the Jesuit authorities many years later, complaining that he had been sexually abused by Schulze. The Jesuits have settled this complaint.

Br Paul Schulze's career was not confined to Xavier College. Schulze has also been the subject of a complaint by a different ex-student, who attended St Ignatius parish primary school in Richmond, Melbourne, in the 1970s. The complainant, born in the 1960s, was aged from 7 to 10, when he encountered Schulze at St Ignatius's school (the Jesuits operate the local parish in that suburb). In 2005, this former pupil tackled the Jesuit authorities with a formal complaint. He alleged that Schulze's actions included serious criminal offences. The Jesuit authorities informed the ex-student (correctly) that Schulze had recently died. (Therefore, the police no longer able to charge Schulze.) However, the Jesuits have made a settlement with this Richmond ex-student. (This student was never at Xavier College.)

Broken Rites has ascertained that the Jesuits authorities in Australia have settled a complaint from an ex-Xavier student (let's call this student "Boris" — not his real name) about another Jesuit priest (let's call the priest "Father X"). By 2011, both of Boris's parents were deceased, and he was finally able to tackle the Jesuits about the sexual assaults which had he suffered while he was a young boy boarding at Xavier College several decades previously.

Boris said that he could not complain during his childhood because he knew that this revelation would have hurt his "loyal Catholic" family. Boris had to suffer in silence.

By the time Boris finished his schooling, Father X had moved on from Xavier to minister in other Jesuit locations.

The abuse (and the cover-up) had a bad impact on Boris's adolescent and adult development.

By 2011, with both parents gone, Boris was finally able to confront the Jesuit authorities. Father X. Boris said that the abuse occurred several times and it included anal penetration (this constitutes a serious criminal offence).

In reply to Boris's official complaint, Father X admitted the assaults.

The Jesuits and Boris now have settled the matter, with Boris receiving some material benefits, without the crimes being reported to the police. Thus, Xavier's public image is protected. Despite the Jesuit head office knowing about these crimes, the Jesuits are allowing Father X to continue working as a Jesuit priest (currently ministering at another location, not Xavier). The crimes committed on Boris are still being concealed from the Victoria Police, although the Sex Crimes Squad would be very interested.

This is the kind of concealment that would interest the Australian government's Royal Commission which is investigating ways in which institutions have handled (or mis-handled) cases of child sexual abuse.

The Jesuits have accepted (and settled) a complaint by a former Xavier student (first name, Mark) that he was sexually abused (at the age of eleven) by Fr John Byrne, SJ, at Xavier's junior school (Burke Hall) in 1971. Mark says the abuse (and the cover-up) badly affected his later life. Fr John Byrne also taught at the Jesuit's "prestigious" Sydney school — St Ignatius College, Riverview.

See more from Broken Rites about Fr John Byrne here.

The above examples are not necessarily a complete list of Xavier sex-abuse incidents. These are merely some settlements that have been uncovered in Broken Rites research. The Catholic Church does not volunteer any information about such cases and, according to the Victoria Police, the church does not arrange an appointment for any victim to have a chat with detectives from the Sex Crime Squad.

There have been various other complaints about Jesuits by former students of Xavier College. For example, Broken Rites is investigating Father Donal Lane who was a Jesuit in Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney.

The Broken Rites website also has an item in its Black Collar Crime page (in section E, item 6) about a lay teacher, Willi Kovac, who abused boys at Xavier and elsewhere. Our item about Kovac says:

In Melbourne County Court in December 2005, Willi Kovac (then aged 73) was jailed for a maximum of nine and half years' jail, with a non-parole period of 5½ years, after pleading guilty to indecently assaulting three boys (aged between nine and fourteen) in the 1960s and 1970s. German-born Kovac was an athletics coach at Melbourne's Xavier College and Marcellin College and other Catholic schools and worked as a co-ordinator at summer camps for Catholic school children. Judge Pamela Jenkins said that, since the offences, Kovac's three victims had struggled with life, including drug and alcohol abuse and relationship breakdowns, and had under-achieved in their work-life. These three boys were not Kovac's only victims. He also had victims from other Catholic schools. Some victims have contacted Broken Rites. According to information given in court in 2005, Kovac was also jailed in 1970 for indecent assault. One prominent Catholic school sacked Kovac for his behaviour but it then breached its duty of care by allowing him to work at other Catholic schools, putting more boys in danger.