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	Insider Calls for Controversial Catholic Order to Be Shut By Yvonne Martin The Press [New Zealand] June 19, 2007 http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/thepress/4100760a6530.html A controversial Catholic order has a culture of sexual abuse within its ranks and should be shut down, says its former complaints manager Michelle Mulvihill. The psychologist and former nun has blown the whistle on the St John of God Order's crisis, after quitting as head of its professional standards committee for nine years. Mulvihill said the brotherhood was in such a state of denial it was impossible to get the gravity of its abuse problem recognised. "My impression is that there is a culture of collusion inside the province which is deeply ingrained, and which makes it almost impossible for the truth about these matters to be dealt with." The final straw for Mulvihill came in March when four out of five of the Australasian province's newly elected leadership team had been or were the subject of historic sexual or physical abuse allegations. She quit the next week. "I tried to hang on for the sake of victims ... I had to resign because I could not stand dealing with this any more. "Unfortunately, the chapter (meeting) at which the leadership was elected did not seem to consider the implications of electing leaders who were, or still are, subject to serious complaints." Mulvihill has written to the order's Prior General in Rome, Brother Donatus Forkan, flagging serious problems she saw in the brotherhood. She wants the Australasian order shut down and its assets seized by its parent group in Rome. An Australian Catholic Bishop, the Most Reverend Michael Malone, has also asked Forkan to investigate, after he was visited by Mulvihill and another committee member. The Press emailed 20 questions on Tuesday to the new Australasian head of St John of God, Brother Timothy Graham, through the order's public relations man. Graham is the only member of the newly elected leadership who has not faced or is not facing allegations himself. On Thursday he responded in a letter saying that he would "take the issues on board immediately and urgently". Graham offered to meet The Press. Since The Press broke the historic child sex abuse scandal in 2002, the order has received 121 complaints alleging abuse at Marylands, the former Christchurch residential school for boys with learning difficulties. Consultant psychologist Mulvihill toured New Zealand with the then Australasian leader, Brother Peter Burke. Burke apologised to the men and 78 cases were resolved with "pastoral offers" averaging $67,850. Mulvihill said they were "very low payouts" compared to those received by St John of God victims in Australia, averaging $125,000 each. Back in Sydney, the standards committee was attacked by some brothers for its sympathetic approach and payouts. "The St John of God Order on the whole believe they are the target of a vicious smear campaign," said Mulvihill. "They spend millions of dollars paying legal fees to defend their men, and do so without complaint, while privately vilifying victims who have received tokenistic responses." Two members, Brother Rodger Moloney, 71, and Father Raymond Garchow, 59, are facing 32 sex-abuse charges in New Zealand, after losing a three-year battle against extradition from Australia. It is understood the order has spent in excess of $1.7 million in legal fees defending its men. Malone, Catholic Bishop of the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese in New South Wales, told Forkan the two committee members had described a "widespread culture of sexual abuse" within the province. If the matters were true, as Malone believed they were, "then the entire order in Australia needs to be seriously assessed". In response to Mulvihill's letter, Forkan said that if any culture of collusion among the brothers was proven "I would be the first to insist on the most radical action". He said the brothers were planning an independent and external audit of the handling of abuse issues in the province.
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