Orphans Abused

Orphans Abused

In Australia the reality of past abuses came with indisputable revelations relating the Christian Brothers’ orphanages in the 1980s and early 1990s. The civil case against the Christian Brothers involved some 250 plaintiffs and was one of the first big cases of its type. Details of abuses suffered by orphans at places such as Clontarf and Bindoon significantly damaged the order’s credibility. By mid-1993 the Christian Brothers had made a public apology, acknowledging with deep shame and regret that migrant and other children had been sexually and physically abused in orphanages run by the order between the 1940s and 1960s. In late August 2002 some horrific accusations of sexual, psychological and physical abuse to children at former orphanage, Nazareth House, near Brisbane, Queensland, were made public. Seventeen women and one former male student, lodged claims (covering the period from the early 1940s to the early 1970s) in the Queensland Supreme Court against the Roman Catholic Church’s Brisbane Archdiocese and the Sisters of Nazareth order, which operated the orphanage. James Spence, the Chancellor of the Brisbane Archdiocese, sought to distance the archdiocese from the claims by stating that any responsibility for the children had rested with the Sisters of Nazareth. He said, ‘The archdiocese had no involvement in the day-to-day running of the orphanage.’ But he added, ‘The archdiocese acknowledges with deep regret the distress felt by former residents of Nazareth House.’ The New Zealand based Sisters of Nazareth’s regional supervisor, Clare Breen, has acknowledged: ‘We’re very sad that some of these girls still have these unhappy memories. We have financed a number of girls to have counselling. We feel that is what the girls have asked us to do and that is what we have done.’ But she added that this did not mean that the order accepted that their claims are true. One of the women involved in the claims responded that she had not decided whether to accept $65,000 offered to her. She stated: ‘What I really want is for them to admit that it happened and that it was wrong, but they won’t. That’s what we really need for our spirits to heal.’ Legal action for child abuse is also being taken against the order in New Zealand, and in Scotland 420 men and women have alleged abuse at the hands of at least 50 named nuns of the Sisters of Nazareth order – 11 compensation test cases are being processed and one nun, Marie Docherty was convicted of four charges of cruelty and unnatural treatment in 2000.