11 July 2009

Marist College a den of paedophilia?

| johnboy
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The Canberra Times has been crunching the numbers on all the sex abuse cases coming out of Canberra’s Marist College and are now speculating as to whether it represents a “paedophile ring”.

    Canberra Times investigation has found that five known child molesters, four of whom were convicted of child sex offences after leaving the school, taught at the school between 1976 and 1992.

    A further seven former staff members are the subject of civil allegations of child sex abuse.

And just for the record, the convicted teachers are: Kostka Chute, Gregory Sutton, Gregory Carter, and Peter Spratt.

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I have discovered this thread late but have to comment (although normally I wouldn’t). I attended Marist Pearce from 1977 until 1983. From the youngest age the students were aware of the sexual abuse that happened there but were too ashamed or traumatised to mention it to anyone else. The fact that the children understood the problem all too well and the abuse continued for such a long time before the tragic suicides of a number of abused former pupils brought the whole squalid institution into the harsh light of judicial scrutiny, is testament to the strength of the taboo surrounding this subject.

If the children well understood the nature of the abuse, the men who lived side by side with the men who perpetrated the abuse and the lay teachers who worked so closely alongside them absolutely did. To the extent that, in the best case scenario, they closed their eyes to it, they are as culpable as if they had have directly participated. I know that the number of people prosecuted for crimes against children at marist Pearce in no way reflects the number of persons who participated in the abuse.

In many ways one of the most disturbing aspects of this is the willingness of apologists for paedophilia to defend the institution by claiming that it was a “small minority” or one or two bad eggs. Fact is everyone who worked or was educated there knew of the abuse and chose to ignore it. For the record, the school was atrocious. Very low educational standards dished out by the mentally challenged. Often the teachers at marist had no formal educational qualifications. At the very best students received a poor education, at the very worst – well we know the very worst. To read people on this site saying that they would send their children to this disgusting institution after all that has happened and as the institution is trying to screw its victims out of just compensation by arguing that they owed their underage charges no duty of care beggars belief. That it happened at all is bad enough. That current management would treat the victims in this manner is outrageous and disgusting. The people who apologise for these people in this and other fora should take a good look at themselves.

Okay, so this is my last rant here at Riot act. I went to St. Edmund’s from 1978 to 1980. There were words spoken about teachers who were queer and letting it all hang out at the Kambah swimming area next to the river, a teacher who flashed a student, and a ped. But I never encountered anything. You have to remember, that catholics are the BAD guys. We never did the right thing. We were using porn at around 13 years old. It was the late Seventies, before aids and the religious right movement of the 80’s. Porn was sold on the schoolground. So if some old fellar got a bit horny around hot young bods, then that’s just the way it was. And so it is in the past… They WERE better days!
Antichrist benji

Anna Key said :

From the article

There have been police investigations and prosecutions, and we remain determined to leave no stone unturned to reach out and assist any current or former student who has been adversely affected

Unless if course it goes to court then we will deny liability and hush it up as quickly as possible. May the Lord be with you (and may the courts be with us)

The criminal investigation at Marist to date only looked at Kostka and there a whole bunch of questions left unanswered. For example, the school promised a full investigation when the article first appeared in the paper some 18 months ago. A few related questions now are: Where are the findings of this investigation? What was the process? Who was questioned and by whom? Was it an independent inquiry? and more importantly, Was this inquiry ever launched? All this, though, is secondary to asking why the church is allowed to run internal investigations at all, after all they’ve done such a stirling job in the past. Make no mistake, no detailed investigation has been made into Marist having several pedophiles working at the school at the same time. Spending a few weeks sporadically asking those with a vested interest in keeping this situation quite if they knew about over a coffee isn’t an investigation!

There are also a few old ‘n bold police in the ACT that were around in the 70’s though 90’s who say they knew of claims of sexual abuse of students at the school way back then but they could do nothing as no formal complaint had been made. Luckily for kids these days things have changes somewhat. Not so lucky, though, for the victims of Marist and Dara and the other ACT catholic schools in the past (we have had ex-students come to us from other catholic schools is the ACT claiming abuse at the hands of priests and Brother).

The really sad part is that the catholic church had a great chance here to wipe the slate clean in the ACT once and for all, and this is slowly but surely slipping away from them. All they had to do is let the matter go to court, face the consequences and move on. They talk about protecting current and future students from ridicule and teasing etc. from other kids but how can they argue this when their own action prevent these wounds being healed publically. Without this transparency there won’t ever be closure and the schools future and current student will, unfortunately, continue to be at risk.

The key question is what are the Marists and the Catholic Church so afraid of that they fight so hard to avoid the courts? If they were as clean as they claim to be you’d think they’d welcome the chance to be found as such in court. Their problem is that if it goes to court, their financial liability to the victims will likely be significantly higher than if they can make the victims feel desperate enough for closure and settle the matter out of court, either through Jason Parkinson or the very dubious and incredibly one sided ‘Towards Healing’ process.

Make no mistake about where we are in this process, though. Victims being paid out behind closed doors and without the schools/Orders accepting responsibility makes no difference to the fight for justice for the victims. There are still victims out there too damages to seek help and we can keep this going for years, if we need to to help these guys. Also,the issue of ex-student suicides is also shortly to be addressed as we believe these guys also deserve recognition for their pain and suffering. I have been advised that on average, for every victim of sexual abuse that comes forward there are at least 5 that remain silent. Do the math and you can feel confident we’re only at the top of a very nasty and very scary ice-burg here in the ACT.

From the article

There have been police investigations and prosecutions, and we remain determined to leave no stone unturned to reach out and assist any current or former student who has been adversely affected

Unless if course it goes to court then we will deny liability and hush it up as quickly as possible. May the Lord be with you (and may the courts be with us)

Catholic Voice article for anyone who wants to know what Berraboy has mentioned\quoted.
http://www.cg.catholic.org.au/news/newsletterarticle_display.cfm?loadref=70&id=641

Berraboy68: The answer to your PS is ‘both, technically’.

Sorry to double post – the magazine is intended for parents. the schools are just the distribution channel.

On a slightly related note: Catholic Voice is handed out to catholic school children of ALL ages – even the littlies. Our culture should focus on teaching children how to protect themselves (without too much detail so as to avoid secondary trauma), rather than publishing (presumably denialist) information like this on the cover of material distributed in schools.

Note – haven’t read the article, but trusting the bb86 on this one.

Stonefish – the ‘accepting of responsibility as you put it is part of the problem, particularly as out of Court settlements are a way of making the problem go away cheaper than they would if the case went to court. In fact given the current Statute of Limitation that stops the case going to court, some victims feel they have no option but to settle out of court, hence the process at this time.

In fact, as these cases are being settled out of court no-one can be, or is, actually being held responsible. Those that go through this process have to acknowledge legally that even though a sum has been paid to them it in no way makes Marist responsible for what happened. What it also means, however, is that the victims that have their cases settled must, in all effect, go away quietly and never talk of their settlement to anyone, ever.

We support whatever choices the victims make in moving forward, whether that be to settle out of court of keep trying to get the case to court. As long as they are satisfied we’re happy. However, there are also some victims that have been paid out who state they will continue fighting for the truth to come out. It’s hard for the Marist to stop that one!

On the first question – I am informed that some cases being settled were part of the Kostka court action others were not. However, cases continue to come forward, and it appears they will continue to do so for some time yet.

BerraBoy – getting back to post #49 – would the “out of court settlements” happen to be with all or some of the actual victims in respect of whom Chute pleaded guilty?
Although undoubtedly “terms not to be disclosed”, it would appear that the Marists are accepting responsibility for Chute’s activities to at least some extent.
Although I’ve addressed this specifically to BerraBoy, if there is anyone else who can shed light on this issue, please do!

Anybody see the recent issue of ‘Catholic Voice’? Don’t worry, the question was rhetorical. This is RioACT so I know we’re going to hell in a handbasket.

There is a front page article in this paper stating that the Brothers are saying they’ve conducted a thorough investigation into the existance of a peadophile ring at the school in the 1970’s though 90’s. The victims support group ‘Time for Healing ACT’ has written a letter in response to this article but it was difficult as they only had 300 words in which to respond via a letter to the Ed. I reproduce it here as I doubt the Catholic Voice will print it:

“Having just read the article ‘Marist Denies College Ring of Abuse’ (August 2009) I feel it important to respond in my role as Founder and co-Spokesman of ‘Time For Healing ACT’, a support group established to support the victims of sexual abuse at Marist and Daramalan colleges.

Bro. Crowe’s comment that the Order conducted an investigation into this ‘paedophile ring‘ is curious and makes one wonder what type of ‘investigation’ can occur in just the three weeks that have passed since this claim first appeared in teh media. In reality, it seems this ‘investigation’ consisted of simply asking a few elderly Brothers, who may be implicated in later ‘cover-ups, whether they knew of this ‘peadophile ring’. As such the findings of this ‘in-house’ and superficial investigation must be treated with a ‘grain of salt’, particularly noting the ongoing attempts by some senior Marist Brothers to mislead victims and their supporters over exactly what the Order did, or did not, know about the abuse of students. The fact that several known paedophiles simultaneously worked at this school remains simply extraordinary.

Furthermore, despite claiming they are sorry for the abuses the Marist Order continues to instruct their lawyers to keep the victims claims out of Court. Their actions includes both issuing writs seeking to have the victims claims struck-out as ‘vexatious’ as well as their use of a bazaar defence claiming the Order has no idea who owned their school during the 1970’s – 90’s. As such, many victims and their supporters believe the real aim of the Brothers is hiding the facts of the abuse to help the Catholic Church protect its considerable bank balance.

We continue to urge the Brothers to stop hiding behind lawyers and allow this case to go to court where the facts can be heard and justice prevail. I believe Jesus would expect nothing else.

Fight the good fight!”

BTW: is the ‘Catholic Voice’ a real news paper or just a propoganda tool for the Church?

The court process is normal. Lawyers once told me that you don’t go to court for justice. I’m not sure what it is there for – other than perhaps a means to an end.

Good on you for standing your ground against an intransigent opponent. And please keep trying the RA ‘patience’ – it is the only way that some of this story will ever get onto the public record.

RayP said :

And where is the ACT Government in all this?

Do they have a role?

Should they have a role?

RayP – they do and they are. We;ve met with the Lib’s, Green and Labor have all been very supportive of the victims. It’s all I can say at the moment, but stay tuned!

And where is the ACT Government in all this?

Do they have a role?

Should they have a role?

Cheers Ant. I have to say (I should have done so earlier) Jason Parkinson and his team are doing a really great fantastic job helping the known victims. Of course, it would have been better had the ACT not had laws in place that stop the boys getting thier cases to court but we’ll get to the bottom of it all eventually. And I really would love to say more about what’s going on but can’t at this time.

Patience relly is a requisite characteristic when dealing with this stuff!

I can’t speak for others, berraboy, but your information is a real eye-opener for me. To see how things are being done away from the news, to see how the law really works, to get a glimpse into the thinking of others. eg what you say about the order viewing it as “minor” gives a clue as to their thinking, it’s stuff we’d never comprehend independantly.

Stonefish – the current state is that some cases are being settled out of court, while others languish in the twilight zone between court and settlement. However, since the article in the CT a few seeks ago more victims have come forward. There is still a long way to go, however, as there are still more victims known to the support/lobby group (i.e. Time For Healing ACT) who are too damaged to come forward yet. Also, there can be expected to be a large number of unknown victims who also are yet to come forward (I have been told that on average for every 1 case that come forward, 5 will not).

There is also a lot of work to do bringing the Marist order into the 21st century and some work is going on behind the scenes on this which I’ll have to report on at a later date. However, after a recent meeting with the Order I had to call a break in proceedings when a senior member of the Order tried to play down the abuse, stating that in the case of one boy his abuse was “minor stuff, nothing realy”. I know the boy in question and what kostka did to him was far from minor and typical of Kostka’s abuses, but we’re working on this and as I say – I can’t say too much at this point other than that also present at this meeting were the usual lies that other parents and victims have been told by the Order’s representatives when kostka’s actions first came to light.

There’s still a long way to go in all this and there are a lot of people that want answers and will demand these regardless of what else happens (i.e. there are too manmy unansered questions). Finally, we’re still working on being able to get the cases (current and future) into court where the Brothers will have to be answerable for their actions and failure to act when told of the abuses.

Finally, and interestingly, I’ve also been discussing how we get the issue of suicide of ex-students out into the light (and there have been many) and we’re about to start working on this. A lot of people, including some sources surprisingly close to the school (past and present) have approached us advising that the school won’t be able to move forward unless this issue is addressed once and for all.

There is still a lot more to say but I don’t want to bore the RA populace, noting their patience on this issue to date. If you want further info just ask here or, alternately, feel free to e-mail me at timeforhealingACT@gmail.com

Hi guys – I haven’t called by for a while because I noticed how things here re anything Marist seemed to cool down after Kostka Chute was gaoled. I was wrong!!!

I don’t live in Canberra. I’m an ex-Marist student from Sydney.

How is the Porters-Marist case going? Can anyone tell me the current state of play? BerraBoy, Canberra Gardiner or Mick1965 perhaps? Mick ended up being one of the plaintiff group, didn’t he?

They should certainly take responsibility. They had a duty of care to those children and they failed abysmally. They ruined lives, some irrevocably. They did it. They knew about it. They allowed it. They perpetrated it.

And they’re still too immoral to stand up and face what they did wrong. Give me the Alan Bonds of the world any day who will do the time for the crime than the Christopher Skases who are beneath contempt.

Cowards!

appy polly logies

In the absence of Johnboy:
Stay on topic.

How is that ‘discrimination’ Ceej? Do you know what the word means?

Parents removing their child from consistent education because they want to push his basketball ‘career’ – honestly, how shallow can you get?

chewy14 said :

What a load of crap ceej1993.

There are plenty of problems at Marist as listed above, Your little rant is not one of them.

And that’s just your opinion chewy, and too me, your responce is not valid. Its part of the bigger picture of problems at this place, too some, it may be an issue. So if you believe one is more of a problem than the other, get ya head outa the sand. Any issue raised regarding these guys, needs to be addressed. They are outa control and on a run, just like your forked tongue.

Ceej1973 or 1993 whatever suits!

Ceej1973 said :

Funny that a religious Institution, protected by all the discrimination Acts under the sun, can be so discriminative themselves. My neighbours son attends this school. He plays a sport in the junior ACT premiers league, so he is pretty talented. If you want to make it to the National team, you have to be exposed to the general leagues. Where the school gets nasty, is that they will not allow him to play in the general league, because he is bound to the Marist Bros team, as part of the enrollment declaration, that his parents agreed too. He and his parents refuse to drop him from the potential of furthering his talent and involvment, so the Bro’s have told them that he has to either drop out of the general league, or leave the school. Pretty sure that’s discrimination. Oh, well, the Bro’s Lawyers must be getting pretty skilled at defending themselves. As it happens, it looks like they will soon be up for another challenge, against the Schools Board. For the record, he has left the Bro’s, which is probably a wise choice, given the Bro’s history, there was the posability of bullying, in the form of un-warrented fail marks at the end of his year 12 studies this year.

Ceej1973 – for what it’s worth the school policy on this is fluid and can be moved when they want to. My broher and I went to marist (I was there 1980-85) and my brother 1979-1983 when he passed away in yr 11. My father argued that as my brothers excellent soccer future would be in doubt if he played for the, then, very young and generally unrecognised Marist Soccer Club and he needed to play for one of teeh larger and better known clubs to mkae the ACT teams (he was offered a contract with Watford in England just before he died). The Headmaster concented and also geve me dispensation to play soccer and later rugby for clubs other than Marist. So it can be done when they want to. That said, when my under 16 Rugby Team ‘West’s’ played Marist I was targetted by every boot going and left the field black and blue. I was later told by the guys in the Marist team that their coach (a well known PE teacher with a surname starting with M) told the marist boys to make sure I left the field on a stretcher for being disloyal.

Now back to the main issue with Marist’s history…

What a load of crap ceej1993.

There are plenty of problems at Marist as listed above, Your little rant is not one of them.

Funny that a religious Institution, protected by all the discrimination Acts under the sun, can be so discriminative themselves. My neighbours son attends this school. He plays a sport in the junior ACT premiers league, so he is pretty talented. If you want to make it to the National team, you have to be exposed to the general leagues. Where the school gets nasty, is that they will not allow him to play in the general league, because he is bound to the Marist Bros team, as part of the enrollment declaration, that his parents agreed too. He and his parents refuse to drop him from the potential of furthering his talent and involvment, so the Bro’s have told them that he has to either drop out of the general league, or leave the school. Pretty sure that’s discrimination. Oh, well, the Bro’s Lawyers must be getting pretty skilled at defending themselves. As it happens, it looks like they will soon be up for another challenge, against the Schools Board. For the record, he has left the Bro’s, which is probably a wise choice, given the Bro’s history, there was the posability of bullying, in the form of un-warrented fail marks at the end of his year 12 studies this year.

Timberwolf6512:37 pm 14 Jul 09

My kids go to Co-ed catholic schools, but not for the religious side of things for the learning. It wouldn’t bother me at all if they failed religion and no, I don’t think i could send my sons to Marist and feel comfortable.

How long will it be until parents of current students realise they are funding the legal costs of all of this. How much are they paying for the “quality” education and “good name” that marist prides itself on…?

There are yet more marist teachers who are yet to be dragged into this.

Pelican Lini11:27 pm 13 Jul 09

xdave said :

The apparent “victim” couldn’t even describe his penis. I’m sorry I think at age 13 we all knew the difference between a “helmet” and a “skiv”.

That’s all you took away from the cancer kid’s evidence?
Boy, I wouldn’t let you near my kids.

Exactly Ian, A deviant will do what they want – it’s what the body that was entrusted with the care of the students does once that action is discovered that shows how fair dinkum they are. And in this case their response has been nothing less than shameless.

Their inability to put their hand up, admit the wrong and do their best to settle the issue with victims only continues to tarnish the organisation and schools.

thelozenger said :

This is yet another horrible thing that comes out of all this. People judging the teachers and brothers that teach now at Marist because of the past. None of the allegations are from less than 17 years ago.

Maybe so, but until the School and the Marists unequivocally accept responsibility for the past sins, name, shame and condemn the perpetrators, and show compassion for the victims, they will deservedly be tarred with the same brush as those who committed the abuse.

Trying to avoid legal responsibility by legalistic weaselling does not tell me they are accepting that they are in the wrong, and deserving of having a clean name.

Thanks for the intro Skid…

Mark spoke to the current Marist Deputy Principle this morning who spoke in glowing terms about the school, how current students and staff are being harrassed by the public over teh abuse and how the school community is pleased that the Brothers are handling the situation for the benefit of victims.

Naturally I couldn’t let this last point pass without a response. I rang Mark on-air and advised that while Time For Healing ACT agrees that current students and staff at Marist are innocents in this whole matter and must be left alone, there remains significant issues with the way the Marist Brothers are handling the whole situiation. In short, they are trying to keep the matter out of court and are refusing the victims a voice or fair compensation. The focus of the Brothers appears to be keeping everything quite or at least, avoid legal responsibility. Even their Media Releases are vetted by their lawyers to ensure no comments are made that could be seen as accepting respnsibility for the past abuses.

On this point I was asked about the scope of the sexual abuse y clergy bproblem in the ACT and I stated that our group has been contacted by victims of abuse from other catholic primary and secondary school in the ACT. While I did not, and would not, name these schools on air I did state that we have referred these victims to Jason Parkinson. In closing the discussion, I advised that to my mind the known cases are just the tip of the iceburg, particulalry as we know of other victims who are still too damaged to come forward and of course, those that are no longer with us – the number of which i am aware continues to grow. Finally, I also took the opportunity to ask other victims to come forward for help ASAP.

BTW: By virtue of my role in Time For Healing ACT I have been asked by several families if their kids should go to Marist. My view is that Rishard Sidorko is a good man who will bring the school back to where it should be. The problem for me, however, is the ongoing involvement of the Brothers in the school. Their behaviour and attitude is such that I wouldn’t want my kids around them. I know of more than a few families that have decided not to send their kids there.

As for the views of Old Boys, some love the school, some hate it. I just know that I meet more old Boys each week who advise they feel betrayed by the Brothers past and current actions.

My problem with the current set up is that both the current Headmaster at MCC and their lawyers argued in court that the Brotherhood has no duty of care to the students. The Headmaster even admitted he does not know who actually pays him…..

Who in their right mind would send their kids to a school that makes public statements like that?

There are people around me here at work who are mentioning “some Marist guy was talking on the radio”, which I have missed by virtue of avoiding Mark Parton, are we going to get a counter-comment from BerraBoy et al?

The School’s handling of past wrongs and the ORder’s protecting of misbehaving members is a major influencing factor in a friend’s current decision not to send his boy there when the time comes.
I am sitting back to see how it plays out, as I have no children to send to Marist.

He’s given Marist (School and Order) a notional deadline of “until the boy needs to enter fourth grade” to turn the ship around and be as clean as they can, instead of their current position of “Nothing is wrong with the School now now, past happenings when both the Order and the School were a united entity are behind us, and the Order is not responsible for the School’s behaviour today, the Order is confident that the current processes are fine for everything the Order is responsible for. Although our name is on the paperwork for oversight, you’ll have to check with the School that they’re doing things correctly.”.
(IE: “Here’s a tangled mess of legal paperwork, bureaucracy and notional divine authority. Trust us that everything is fine with it, because we’re men of the cloth.
We won’t let the public have a look at what happens behind our doors unless we’re forced to.”)

thelozenger said :

deezagood said :

If I had a son, there is no way I would EVER send him to a Catholic boy’s school. No way.

This is yet another horrible thing that comes out of all this. People judging the teachers and brothers that teach now at Marist because of the past. None of the allegations are from less than 17 years ago. Both my younger brothers go to Marist and I know quite a number of Marist Old Boys aswell, and they all adore the school and hold the brothers who teach there currently- none of whom where teaching at Marist during the time of the alleged incidents- in the highest regard.

+1. I went to Marist, as did my 3 brothers. Definitely plan on sending my boy/s there if/when I have some. Same goes for most of the people I know that went there.

It also has happened with the Salvation Army boys homes. Any institution is not immune me thinks.

Whatajokemaristis9:18 am 13 Jul 09

Eradicate the ongoing practice of molestation from catholic schools and maybe you can feel proud of this school and others. If you continue to only see what you want to see then this type of practice will not recieve the condemnation that it deserves. What other organisation would exist with this type of reputation? You may be proud of the some of the teachers and brothers at MCC but you must be ashamed of the overall hipocracy that is rife omongst the leaders of the school and the brotherhood. How could anyone be interested in being involved with this religion with such evil acts that are so widespread? bizarre, to say the least….

thelozenger said :

deezagood said :

If I had a son, there is no way I would EVER send him to a Catholic boy’s school. No way.

This is yet another horrible thing that comes out of all this. People judging the teachers and brothers that teach now at Marist because of the past. None of the allegations are from less than 17 years ago. Both my younger brothers go to Marist and I know quite a number of Marist Old Boys aswell, and they all adore the school and hold the brothers who teach there currently- none of whom where teaching at Marist during the time of the alleged incidents- in the highest regard.

That may be true (and I have heard absolutely excellent things about Marist from current parents), but I still wouldn’t send any son of mine to a Catholic boy’s school.

deezagood said :

If I had a son, there is no way I would EVER send him to a Catholic boy’s school. No way.

This is yet another horrible thing that comes out of all this. People judging the teachers and brothers that teach now at Marist because of the past. None of the allegations are from less than 17 years ago. Both my younger brothers go to Marist and I know quite a number of Marist Old Boys aswell, and they all adore the school and hold the brothers who teach there currently- none of whom where teaching at Marist during the time of the alleged incidents- in the highest regard.

It happened with the Christian Brothers too. To a family relative and repeated by others who went to one of their schools.

I’m the gullible. Right.

The apparent “victim” couldn’t even describe his penis. I’m sorry I think at age 13 we all knew the difference between a “helmet” and a “skiv”.
Might want to have a good read of Smoking Gun again – I already have, thoroughly, before I discovered the mentioned wiki articles.

Who claimed to know it all? At the very least my comment is backed up with verified evidence and references.

And I’m the gullible one. 😉

Pelican Lini10:19 pm 12 Jul 09

xdave said :

Clown Killer said :

Pelican Lini, FFS he was a bloody kiddy fiddler!

I’m with realityskin here – says who?

You didn’t hear that the courts found him not guilty? This is an American court ruling than an American man was innocent. Do you, some random bogan from Southside Canberra, claim to know something they don’t?

Do some reading before you comment more on the matter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_v._Jackson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_child_sexual_abuse_accusations_against_Michael_Jackson

Hey xdave, I think we might be distantly related ‘cos you are gull – ible.
Why don’t you read the evidence given by his accuser and others on Smoking Gun, and have a think about why he forked out $20 million to another victim?
Just like Marist (only more extravagant).
Surely, even a random northside wanker doesn’t claim to be all knowing on the basis of wikipedia articles?
Hands down this guy has won the award for most revered rock spider in the history of the world … ever.

Pelican Lini9:49 pm 12 Jul 09

realityskin said :

Clown Killer said :

FFS he was a bloody kiddy fiddler!

Says who ?

Kind of a strange question from a person with a screen name claiming some hold on reality

Clown Killer said :

Pelican Lini, FFS he was a bloody kiddy fiddler!

I’m with realityskin here – says who?

You didn’t hear that the courts found him not guilty? This is an American court ruling than an American man was innocent. Do you, some random bogan from Southside Canberra, claim to know something they don’t?

Do some reading before you comment more on the matter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_v._Jackson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_child_sexual_abuse_accusations_against_Michael_Jackson

shauno said :

Forget the lawyers

Just state what happened in plain English

Sorry Shauno, are you talking about the Maristian’s coming clean, the Victims that have signed NDA’s or me being more clear on my meeting, as a representative of ‘Time for healing ACT’, with both the Marist’s Australian Provincial and Professional Standards Officer?

Forget the lawyers

Just state what happened in plain English

Whatajokemaristis said :

What a sad outcome for all who have ever been involved with or are still involved with this institution and it’s brotherhood. As a former student of Marist College Canberra and numerous other catholic schools, I experienced first hand the abuse (both mental and physical) that is just a part of the ingrained culture that exists in the Catholic religion and throughout it’s schools, churches and associated bodies. It’s so obvious for those that went to the school, that the abuse that was occurring. Whether sexual or just plain violence, it was common knowledge. What makes me sick is the weasily vermin that exists in the school now. These people that are protecting the school from it’s obligation, through weaving some legalistic loophole. Stand up and take responsibility for what occurred in the recent past. Grow a spine and face your demons, give the victims some hope that things have changed. Until they do, Marist College Canberra will remain plagued by it’s own past, shrouded in rumour and have no real hope in going forward. Wanna send your kid there?

The problem is the legalities. The Maristian’s have every press release vetted by their lawyers to make sure they don’t say anything that holds them legally responsible. Sure, they say sorry but it’s a meaningless term if they then fight any action that would allow the victims their day in court. The thing is these guys don’t live by the teachings of their own church, if they did they’d cease fighting and give whatever teach boy need to move forward. Furthermore they’d do this without making each victim sign a non-disclosure agreement or any other crap that says ‘even though we’re paying you a sum of money (normally limited to a maximum of $50,000), it doesn’t mean we did anything wrong’, which is what happens under the Churches so called ‘Towards Healing’ process. If I believed in such things any more, their much vaunted St Marcellen would be deeply, deeply ashamed of the ongoing efforts of this Order to avoid responsibility in this matter. And trust me, having met formally with The Provincial and Turton on this matter, that’s exactly what the Order is trying to do.

A Noisy Noise Annoys An Oyster4:01 pm 12 Jul 09

I remember back in the 1980s when Marist first consented to allow AIDS education. The AIDS education officers from the hospital clinic were given strict instructions not to mention using condoms as protection against the virus. The education officers patiently explained to them that condoms were the only protection against AIDS if you had sex, and that the courses couldn’t go ahead if condoms couldn’t be recommended. They reluctantly allowed the courses to go ahead but stepped up their advice against condoms in religion classes.

Whatajokemaristis12:11 pm 12 Jul 09

What a sad outcome for all who have ever been involved with or are still involved with this institution and it’s brotherhood. As a former student of Marist College Canberra and numerous other catholic schools, I experienced first hand the abuse (both mental and physical) that is just a part of the ingrained culture that exists in the Catholic religion and throughout it’s schools, churches and associated bodies. It’s so obvious for those that went to the school, that the abuse that was occurring. Whether sexual or just plain violence, it was common knowledge. What makes me sick is the weasily vermin that exists in the school now. These people that are protecting the school from it’s obligation, through weaving some legalistic loophole. Stand up and take responsibility for what occurred in the recent past. Grow a spine and face your demons, give the victims some hope that things have changed. Until they do, Marist College Canberra will remain plagued by it’s own past, shrouded in rumour and have no real hope in going forward. Wanna send your kid there?

Shauno I agree. It is a slight contradiction when you’re being taught evolution in science class and the creation of the World in 7 days in religion class.

BerraBoy68 I reckon Eddies has some serious rumour control going on there.

Clown Killer said :

FFS he was a bloody kiddy fiddler!

Says who ?

farnarkler said :

Having been to one of the three Catholic boys schools, I’d love to know how St Edmunds has been able to keep their paedophilia secrets out of the media. If it happened at Daramalan and Marist, there’s no way it didn’t happen at St Eddies!!

Farnarkler, I’ve heard rumours to this effect from boys that went to Eddie’s. Until someone comes forward, however, as they did at Dara and Marist no action can be taken and they must remain as rumours.

Trunking symbols5:48 am 12 Jul 09

Not surprising. Everybody knows the Catholic church is the church of pedophilia.

Clown Killer11:41 pm 11 Jul 09

Pelican Lini, Michael Jackson isn’t a saint – he’s a dead fcuking paedophile. I just don’t get the worms who want to come out and say “oh yeah, he put out some great tunes”. FFS he was a bloody kiddy fiddler!

I went to a catholic school but I could not be convinced of the fairy tails. So i got consistent straight E’s for religion but at the same time I got B’s and A’s for science and physics subjects. The thing was I was not able to be brain washed I was always seeking logical and scientific proofs. And was quiet satisfied with the current understanding of space time and Earth’s 4.5 billion year history.

Pelican Lini10:36 pm 11 Jul 09

Clown Killer said :

The people who inflict this disgusting violence on children must be pursued mercilessly to their graves. These monsters need to know that they will never be safe, that their crimes will be exposed and punished.

Unless your name is Michael Jackson, who now apparently is a saint.
Maybe Marist should change its name to Michael Jackson College.

If I had a son, there is no way I would EVER send him to a Catholic boy’s school. No way.

Having been to one of the three Catholic boys schools, I’d love to know how St Edmunds has been able to keep their paedophilia secrets out of the media. If it happened at Daramalan and Marist, there’s no way it didn’t happen at St Eddies!!

Clown Killer8:58 pm 11 Jul 09

The people who inflict this disgusting violence on children must be pursued mercilessly to their graves. These monsters need to know that they will never be safe, that their crimes will be exposed and punished.

Question is why is this a 21st century problem never had any issues or hear of any at the private schools I went to.

mother of many said :

Yes! That’s right – Canberra also hosted numerous paedophiles in its parishes and schools.

Ooops – gosh, how crass and gauche of me, to bring such a tasteless opinion out and wave it around. Everyone KNOWS Canberran Catholics are waaaay too classy to have harboured such tacky goings-on!

Now lets see how the CT does its ‘right of reply’ for the diocese… bending over (backwards) to present the past diocesan officials as innocent, I bet.

In all sincerity, oodles of sympathy for the poor kids there now, of course, having to deal with the fallout today.

Steady there M.O.M. I’m quite close to all this and have to say that the CT, esp. Victor, has been VERY supportive of the victims. I also met with the Marist Provincial over this in past months (at the request of the Marist’s) and suffice to say, I’m not surprised over this story (I met with Victor 2 weeks ago) and remain appalled at their behavior and attempts to explain it away. There’s a lot more to this that I’d love to add but that’s for another day!

mother of many7:03 pm 11 Jul 09

Yes! That’s right – Canberra also hosted numerous paedophiles in its parishes and schools.

Ooops – gosh, how crass and gauche of me, to bring such a tasteless opinion out and wave it around. Everyone KNOWS Canberran Catholics are waaaay too classy to have harboured such tacky goings-on!

Now lets see how the CT does its ‘right of reply’ for the diocese… bending over (backwards) to present the past diocesan officials as innocent, I bet.

In all sincerity, oodles of sympathy for the poor kids there now, of course, having to deal with the fallout today.

Colour me ‘unsurprised’.

doesnt surprise me….

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