Brother Vincent Jury will celebrate the milestone in Murupara this Sunday where he has served for 25 years.

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The Commission's report says a culture of secrecy and failures in the church's structure led to children being abused across the diocese over a number of decades.

"That failure led to the suffering and often irreparable harm to children, their families and the wider community."

The Commission found that the Church did not act in the children's interests, which meant the abuse situation the children were in continued.

The abuse could have been avoided if the Church had acted in the interests of children.

Three public hearings into the Ballarat situation looked at the effect of child sexual abuse on an entire town.

They revealed the extent of child sex abuse across parishes, schools and homes.

Ninety per cent of the 140 abuse complaints reported to the diocese related to seven priests.

Over half the complaints concerned Gerald Ridsdale.

He held 16 appointments over his 29-year career as a priest.

His crimes were detailed in over 100 pages of the report.

They were spread across western Victoria where he was given 16 appointments over a period of 29 years.

The report says the bishop at the time, Ronald Mulkearns, knew of Ridsdale's abuse as early as 1975.

Hundreds of children were molested while Mulkearns was bishop.

He moved priests between parishes as rumours of their offending grew.

The commissioners found the response of the Diocese to complaints and concerns about different priests "was remarkably and disturbingly similar".

The Christian Brothers also come under fire in the report.

The religious order operated six schools in Ballarat and Warrnambool.

Four of the St Alipius boys school's Brothers and Ridsdale, who was their chaplain, were accused of sexually assaulting children.

All but one, who died before charges could be laid, have been convicted.

The Commissioners found the Brothers' response to complaints was "grossly inadequate".

They say they "completely failed … to protect the most vulnerable children in their care", operating within a structure "without checks and balances".

"On some occasions, the response to allegations or reports of Christian Brothers conducting themselves in a sexually inappropriate manner with children was dismissive," the Commissioners say.

One of the victims said it was a travesty that no individual had been charged with criminal negligence for the abuse committed in Ballarat.

"You know, it's basically a crime against humanity ...They're actually the criminals, not us, and this report shows that they did know, and they did cover up the crimes and hopefully they're liable and put in jail like they should be."

He said some of his classmates committed suicide to end their suffering.

Justin Driscoll, the Vicar General of the Ballarat Diocese, says the church accepted the findings.

Source

• ABC News
• Herald Sun
• Image: The Courier

One school is still operated by the archdiocese with involvement by the brothers; the other closed in the late 1960s.

The most recent cases are nearly 30 years old and some date back nearly 60 years

Seattle Archbishop Peter Sartain said he deeply regretted the pain suffered by victims.

The settlement will be paid out of insurance by the archdiocese.

Victims will also receive settlement money from the Christian Brothers' bankruptcy proceeding.

Two groups that hold Christian Brothers' assets sought US federal bankruptcy protection in 2011 in the face of hundreds of abuse claims.

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The figure was revealed at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse at hearings in Perth on May 6.

The payments by the order and Catholic Church insurance were made to 531 people, usually former child migrants brought to Australia from the United Kingdom and Malta, the Daily Telegraph reported.

A Christian Brothers' historian has identified 70 brothers around Australia who had had complaints made against them.

This mainly involved sexual offences against boys between 1919 and 1969.

There were 18 brothers who were repeat offenders.

But from 1945, not one brother was expelled from the order, the Royal Commission was told.

According to an ABC report, the Christian Brothers who ran children's homes in Western Australia in 1940s to 1960s did not consider the abuse of students a crime.

Br Anthony Shanahan, a former province leader of the Christian Brothers in WA, told the hearing the mindset at the time meant abuse was thought of mainly as a moral fault or failing.

"I think they saw it as something that was abhorrent, harmful - although I don't think they understood it as harmful in the way we would now, in terms of consequences for the victim . . ." he said.

The chair of the commission, Justice Peter McClellan, described this attitude as "somewhat extraordinary".

Br Shanahan said brothers who had been accused of abusing students at boarding houses were often sent to day schools.

When asked by Justice McClellan whether it was wise for brothers who abused children to be moved to another facility where children were present, Br Shanahan answered "no".

Br Shanahan told the hearing that between 1947 and 1968 there were no written policies for the order relating to child protection, the handling of abuse complaints or the disciplining of alleged offenders.

He said a complaints process was developed in the 1990s as the order became aware of allegations.

Sources

• Daily Telegraph
• ABC
• Image: Yahoo News Australia

The result was that they might be sent to the large industrial school run by the Christian Brothers in the north Dublin suburb of Artane. A frazzled parent might well threaten their child with such an outcome in an effort to frighten the recalcitrant one into conformity.

In practice, many of those who ended up in Artane were there because they had been abandoned or because it was the opinion of authorities that their families were unable to look after them. It was not a badge of honour for the family or a situation fondly anticipated by the child.

I came across the story of one such boy recently. Danny Ellis was an inner city kid, his father in America for work, his young mother not able or not willing to look after him and his four younger siblings. These were taken away to be cared for by nuns and finally his mother took Danny to Artane, telling him she had to go to hospital and would come back for him at Christmas. He never saw her again. Continue reading

Image: Random House

The bulk of the claims comes from the Seattle area, said Michael Petterson, a lawyer for the Catholic Archdiocese in Seattle.

"It's a sad day. We're very disappointed that it reached this level," Patterson told Reuters on Thursday night.

"We had hoped that we could have partnered with the Christian Brothers to settle claims. What this means is that victims now have to deal with this out of bankruptcy court."

The order filed for bankruptcy in a bid to shield its assets in Rome, the lawyer added.

"They made money taking over the care of children but put many of their members who were known abusers in charge of them," Pfau said. "Then they tried to cover it up. This bankruptcy is just another effort for them to avoid responsibility."

A spokesperson for the Christian Brothers did not say how many claims were pending although victims' attorneys estimate there are more than 50 claims, KansasCity.com reports.

Citing "changing needs", in particular the declining number of brothers in the developed world. The three provinces of North America, Canada, Eastern American, and Western American Province, restructured into the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers North America on 1 July 2005.

Sources

• Reuters
• Kansas City
• CathNews USA