AUSTRALIA
The Australian
THE Christian Brothers admit they were aware of abuse complaints against two brothers at Ballarat in Victoria but failed to tell police.
The Catholic order had at least four confirmed pedophiles working in Ballarat in the 1970s, deputy province leader Brother Julian McDonald told a Victorian parliamentary inquiry.
He had no explanation for why so many pedophiles served in the Ballarat parish at the same time.
“It’s certainly an accident of history,” Brother McDonald said.
“Was there a culture that encouraged that? I don’t believe there is evidence that there was.”
But Brother McDonald admitted the order’s failure to alert police was because leaders in those days saw offending as a “moral failure”, and abusers were merely reprimanded.
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