Marist Brothers Healing Program like Being Abused Again, Victim Says

By Dan Box
The Australian
December 18, 2013

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/in-depth/marist-brothers-healing-program-like-being-abused-again-victim-says/story-fngburq5-1226785874267



A MAN who was sexually abused by three members of a Catholic religious order while at school says the experience of going through the church's Towards Healing program for dealing with such claims was like being abused again.

The victim, who cannot be named, told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, that he eventually received $80,000 in compensation from the Marist Brothers after "an aggressive and destructive" meeting in March 2010.

"The mediation that day made me feel quite dirty and filthy," the victim told the commission.

"From 1976 to 1981, I was sexually abused; there was horrendous physical abuse and there was control by angry, cruel men who ruled my life.

"I put my trust back in them for Towards Healing and ... I just felt the same angry, cruel men had done the same thing to me 35 years later. It's the same abuse."

After contacting the Marist Brothers as an adult, the victim, who was an 11-year-old schoolboy when the abuse began, said he was initially told "the abuse was a long time ago and I should just get over it".

The Towards Healing process was dominated by lawyers and the church's insurer, he told the commission, and while he was told the meeting's facilitator was independent, he was in fact employed by the Catholic Church.

The facilitator, Michael Salmon, has told the commission he did tell the victim he was employed by the church.

During the meeting, the victim said he was repeatedly interrupted by Mr Salmon and a solicitor for the church, Patrick Monahan, who "kept telling me to hurry up. He said to me 'You are wasting time'," the commission heard.

Over 2200 complaints of child sex abuse have been received by the church under the Towards Healing program, established by the church in 1996. Many of those who have been through it, the commission has heard, feel they have been "re-traumatised" by the experience.

"I feel that the whole Towards Healing process was a sham. I feel a lot of rage in relation to Towards Healing. It's one of the biggest scars of my life," the victim told the commission.

"I have suffered and paid a price most of my life. I would like to know when the Marist Brothers and those engaged with Towards Healing will eventually take some responsibility for their actions."

The Marist Brothers have now agreed to renegotiate the settlement the victim received from the church, the commission heard.