AUSTRALIA
The Australian
Abusers say they never existed: Congregation of Christian Brothers ‘never in Australia’
JANET FIFE-YOEMANS THE DAILY TELEGRAPH APRIL 23, 2014
THE child sex abuse royal commission is being urged to investigate why the Congregation of Christian Brothers has claimed it never existed in Australia, as it looks into shocking abuse at four of its orphanages.
The commission is expected to hear from child migrants who, as young boys, were raped and physically assaulted by Christian Brothers at the notorious homes when it starts its latest inquiry in Perth next week.
Sydney solicitor Adrian Joel is urging the commission to look into the Christian Brothers’ response to a test case for the thousands of former child migrants shipped to Australia as cheap labour in mass migration schemes of the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s.
Lawyers frustrated at the legal walls erected by the Christian Brothers in Australia launched the case in New York, under an old international law, arguing that it exists as an international order. A judge ruled against the case on a number of points including that they had sued the “wrong” Christian Brothers. Despite being a worldwide religious community within the Catholic Church, the Christian Brothers claims it is constituted differently in different countries and never existed in Australia as the Congregation of Christian Brothers.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.