The order says it is about to go broke and cannot afford to meet the claims of survivors. It is instead proposing a scheme that would sell off its remaining property, worth about $217m, and divide the proceeds to pay out survivors.<\/p>\n
An affidavit filed by Brother Gerard John Brady, the head of the Christian Brothers Oceania province, told the court that it had about 176 brothers still in the order, most of which were in Australia.<\/p>\n
Nine of those are convicted child sex offenders. One is behind bars. More current brothers had been accused of child abuse.<\/p>\n
Br Brady said the order\u2019s Oceania leadership team had made a decision to keep them in the order as brothers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile dismissal of an offender from the Christian Brothers is an option open to us, I believe that it is not always the appropriate response,\u201d he said. \u201cAccommodating known sex-offenders in the wider community following their discharge remains a difficult issue for society. The [Oceania leadership team] believes that the Christian Brothers have obligations both to the wider community and to the offender.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said that offenders would become a \u201cburden for taxpayers to shoulder\u201d if they were moved out into society, because they often have no means of financial support.<\/p>\n
The leadership team also took the view that it was their responsibility to \u201ccare for the needy\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cFurther \u2026 we have an obligation under canon law to care for all Brothers,\u201d he said. \u201cWe accept that this philosophy requires us to continue contact with and support of those found to have committed serious criminal offences. We see this as a Gospel imperative.<\/p>\n
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe acknowledge that victims and members of the wider community may interpret such support as preferring the interests of offenders over victims. However, we are conscious of ensuring that our support of the Brothers does not undermine seeking justice for, or compromising the protection of, victims and survivors.\u201d<\/p>\n He said that if an offender lived in the wider community, without the congregation\u2019s support, he might not \u201cseek nor receive treatment for his offending behaviour\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe believe that, if the Christian Brothers keep an offender within the Congregation, we are able to monitor his behaviour and support treatment,\u201d he said. \u201cWe take responsibility for doing so. We believe that society is more likely to be protected by an offender remaining part of the Congregation and being monitored.\u201d<\/p>\n The affidavit also reveals that Br Brady met with representatives from the Holy See, the centre of Catholic power in the Vatican and the institution that embodies the authority of the Pope, to seek support. The meetings occurred from January.<\/p>\n Br Brady said the engagement was part of a broader plea to other Catholic institutions to warn them of the Christian Brothers Oceania province\u2019s \u201csevere financial position and expectation that it will be facing insolvency in the near term\u201d.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter | When needed<\/p>\n Sign up to Breaking News Australia<\/p>\n Get the most important news as it breaks<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Brady also asked whether other institutions could \u201cprovide any support to the Province (the nature of the support depending on the institution and its circumstances).\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo financial support has been forthcoming,\u201d he wrote in the affidavit.<\/p>\n One of the other institutions the Christian Brothers has sought support from is Edmund Rice Education Australia. That entity was created in 2007 and now runs former Christian Brothers schools in Australia.<\/p>\n Vast holdings of land have been transferred to EREA from the Christian Brothers over the past decade<\/a>.<\/p>\n Property records show the transfers have included multimillion-dollar homes in Sydney, including a five-bedroom Strathfield home, complete with a back yard pool, worth an estimated $4.7m.<\/p>\n A property transfer document signed by the former head of the Christian Brothers in Oceania, Peter Clinch, reveals that home was given to Edmund Rice for $1.<\/p>\n EREA says it will not be selling off the properties to help the Christian Brothers.<\/p>\n But the Christian Brothers says it will not attempt to stop survivors suing EREA. It estimates the property transfers are worth $540m, though EREA financial documents suggest it has received land worth $891m from the Christian Brothers.<\/p>\n In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline<\/a> on 1800 55 1800, or Bravehearts<\/a> on 1800 272 831, and adult survivors can contact Blue Knot Foundation<\/a> on 1300 657 380. In the UK, the NSPCC<\/a> offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac<\/a>) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In the US, call or text the Childhelp<\/a> abuse hotline on 800-422-4453. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Christian Brothers has deliberately kept nine convicted child abusers, one who is currently behind bars, as members…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":775868,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-775867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=775867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/775868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=775867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=775867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=775867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2998.jpg\")
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