AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald
BY JOANNE MCCARTHY
09 Jul, 2012
A WOMAN whose son was sexually assaulted by a Catholic school teacher in the 1970s has disputed a Christian Brothers version of its handling of the incident, and backed calls for a Royal Commission into child sex abuse in the Catholic Church.
The woman denied any contact with Brother Anthony Peter Whelan, the principal of St Patrick’s College, Sutherland, in 1978 after her son, 13, told Brother Whelan that he was sexually assaulted by teacher Thomas Keady.
Brother Whelan went on to become director of schools for Broken Bay diocese, covering the Central Coast. He retired in March.
The woman’s statement that “we had no liaison with him whatsoever”, contradicts a Christian Brothers’ statement that Brother Whelan liaised with parents when allegations about Keady were raised with him. It also contradicts Brother Whelan’s signed statement to a church-commissioned investigator in November 2010, that he advised students to inform their parents because “parents of the boys had the right to take the matter up with the police”.
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