MALTA/AUSTRALIA
Malta Today
Matthew Vella 15 February 2017
In 1928, Perth-based Maltese priest Fr Raphael Pace urged the Congregation of the Christian Brothers to include Maltese children in its emerging migration scheme. The Irish order was especially dedicated to the evangelisation and education of youth. Negotiations between the Maltese and Western Australian governments continued through the 1930s but the first Maltese child migrants did not arrive in Australia until after World War II. Between 1950 and 1965, 259 boys and 51 girls were sent to Catholic institutions in Western Australia and South Australia.
Most parents believed their children would receive a better education in Australia. Instead many were put to work on the Christian Brothers’ building projects, some were forced to stop using their Maltese language and never learned to read or write English. They were also brutally sexually abused and physically punished.
Last week, a report by the Australian Royal Commission into child sexual abuse released damning statistics on the scale of the crisis within the Catholic Church, which shows that seven per cent of Australia’s Catholic priests were accused of abusing children in the six decades since 1950.
By far the worst was the order of the St John of God Brothers, where a staggering 40% of religious brothers are believed to have abused children; 22% of Christian Brothers and 20% of Marist Brothers, both orders that run schools, were alleged perpetrators.
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