Rape Jokes about Nuns, Suggestions to Read Lolita and Seedy Handwritten Notes: How a Sick Priest Groomed a Girl, 15, for Sex before Driving Her to the Bush and Assaulting Her

By Belinda Grant
Daily Mail
July 28, 2016

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3712023/Woman-sexually-assaulted-priest-says-faked-terminal-lung-disease-groom-her.html

A woman who was groomed and sexually assaulted by a chaplain when she was a young girl has spoken out about how she was silenced by her abuser and the Catholic Church.

Joan Isaacs, 63, was fifteen-years-old when a 'charismatic' chaplain of the Sacred Heart Convent at Sandgate, Brisbane, started paying her and a select few of her classmates 'special' attention.

Father Francis Edward Derriman passed the school children notes about musicians, gave them nicknames, and challenged the religious ideas that restricted their lives - all in an attempt to carefully construct an image of a man who was 'different' and could be trusted.

Katherine Isaacs (pictured) was fifteen-years-old when a 'charismatic' chaplain from Brisbane's Sacred Heart Catholic School started paying her and a select few of her classmates 'special' attention

'Father Derriman was not handsome. But what he did have was a strong charisma and a power over people,' Ms Issacs wrote in her autobiography, To Prey and to Silence.

'He made them feel good. He made them feel special.'

Derriman told them he was dying of a terrible lung disease but insisted they keep it a secret. She said he positioned himself as a vulnerable and lonely man who needed their help and support.

He opened up to them in a way an adult had never done before which Ms Isaacs said only strengthened their loyalty to him.

'We were the only family he had. We tried to look after him and we tried to protect him,' she wrote.

But as their friendship progressed, the notes he slipped her started to have a sexual overtone, he suggested she read the book Lolita - a tale about a middle aged man who seduces a 12-year-old girl - and would stare at her suggestively 'licking his lips'.

'Father Derriman (pictured) was not handsome. But what he did have was a strong charisma and a power over people. He made them feel good. He made them feel special,' Ms Isaacs wrote

Ms Isaac said Derriman positioned himself as a vulnerable and lonely man who needed their help and support

'When we went to Holy Communion, instead of putting the host on the tip of our tongues, Father Derriman would put his finger in our mouths. It was done in such a way that no-one else would notice except us.

'At other times he would gently stroke the side of the face with one finger as he placed the host on the end of our tongue.

Ms Isaacs pictured as a child nine years before she was sexually abused by Father Derriman

'I always understood that these signs meant that I was part of his family. I was special.'

He made inappropriate jokes about nuns being raped twice a week to improve their mood and even asked her what she wore under her school uniform.

Eventually, Derriman told Ms Isaacs he wanted to have sex with her before he died and she said the 'strain of being special started to take its toll'.

'Religion was woven into his argument. For me to have sex with him would be the ultimate in giving myself to God… after all… he was a priest and God's representative on earth.'

When she declined, he drove her into the bush after dark, locked his car and sexually assaulted her.

'I will never forget in my mind and my body how it felt. I could not breathe with the weight of his body against mine. It crushed me. His mouth suffocated me.'

He would assault her once more, again in his car but this time - despite his threats of suicide - Ms Isaacs told someone what had happened.

Her future husband Ian Isaacs, then 17-years-old, insisted on telling her mother who staunchly defended her daughter when Derriman claimed she was mentally ill and telling lies.

But her agony did not end when the Archbishop was informed, or years later when Derriman was arrested and found guilty of two counts of indecent dealing with a girl under the age of 16 in 1998.

Ms Isaacs said the guilt and shame resurfaced after dealing with the church's Towards Healing program, which was designed 'oversee the development of policies, principles and procedures in responding to Church-related abuse complaints'.

Her future husband Ian Isaacs, then 17-years-old, insisted on telling her mother (Pictured: Joan with Ian and children in 1978)

Ms Isaacs said her mother Gloria (pictured with her three children) staunchly defended her daughter when Derriman claimed she was mentally ill and telling lies

Senior prosecutor Sal Vasta (left), Joan Isaacs (middle) and detective senior constable Derek Kordick (right) pose for a photograph on the day Derriman was convicted of indecent assault of a minor

Ms Isaacs gave evidence during the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

The commission found the Church had 'effectively imposed on Mrs Isaacs an obligation of silence about the circumstances that led to her complaint, which was inconsistent with Towards Healing principles' (Pictured: with her husband Ian after giving evidence at the Royal Commission in Sydney)

Ms Isaacs claims Total Healing 'was purely aimed at placating the public' following uproar over the widespread sexual abuse of children by members of the Catholic Church

Ms Isaacs claims Total Healing 'was purely aimed at placating the public' following uproar over the widespread sexual abuse of children by members of the Catholic Church.

She said she went in seeking an apology, counselling and compensation but claims she was 'stonewalled' and forced to sign a 'cruel' gag order that prevented her from speaking about the abuse, even with her husband and children.

Ms Isaacs gave evidence during the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse which found the Church had 'effectively imposed on Mrs Isaacs an obligation of silence about the circumstances that led to her complaint, which was inconsistent with Towards Healing principles'.

More details on Ms Isaacs story can be found in her autobiography To Prey and to Silence which is available for purchase online.