The Commission is encouraging survivors to come forward, as is St John of God survivor, Darryl Smith.

Smith says his traumatic story with St John of God began at age 7.

"It started when Brother Keane, a school teacher at Marylands, kept me back in class.

"Older boys and some staff came along too", said Smith.

He told CathNews that the abuse was not carried out by just one brother.

Br Roger (Moloney), at the time, head of the Order in New Zealand, called him to his office, seemingly to take a call from his grandmother.

Smith said there was no phone call from his grandmother, there was no phone call at all but he was very seriously abused.

Smith says he does not understand how the Order moved these men around knowing for years what they were doing. He says he does not accept the Order's claims it was the done thing at the time.

"What a load of rubbish", he said. "The done thing, the Christian thing is to protect a child", he told CathNews.

Later in the 1970's Smith moved to Australia where he was again in the care of the St John of God brothers, and again he was very seriously abused.

"How's that, abused by the same brothers both sides of the Tasman", said Smith wryly.

Smith told CathNews that the serious abuse conducted by the St John of brothers began during the formative time in his life, so much so, that for many years he did not know what was right or wrong.

"Between 1984 to 2009 I spent a lifetime in and out of Prison because of the evil I suffered", he said.

However, in 2010 his life started to change and he began the long road of healing.

"I started doing artwork to heal myself and learnt from that.

"At a comparatively late stage of life, I began to understand the difference between right and wrong".

In 2012 he held his first art exhibition entitled "My New Journey".

Darryl Smith, Artist

Now the author of several books, Smith's first book is the story of his shattered life at the hands of the St John of God brothers.

Smith is the New Zealand Ambassador for the National Association of Adult Survivors of Child Abuse, a role he takes seriously.

While he is writing a report on the Hospitaller Order of St John of God in New Zealand to be presented to the Royal Commission and is appearing in front of the Royal Commission at the February hearing, he also asks that other survivors consider joining him.

Smith's encouragement is echoed by General manager of investigations for the Royal Commission, Tom Powell.

"We want to hear from as many survivors as possible, so we have a comprehensive picture as to what happened at these organisations."

Ken Clearwater, a founding trustee of Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse told Stuff that said survivors carry shame, disgust and guilt, and are often labelled liars, so he takes his hat off to anyone brave enough to share their story.

Powell told Suff that the commission had wellbeing wraparound support for anyone who wanted to share their experiences, but he recognised how difficult it was.

Catherine Fyfe, chair of Te Ropu Tautoko - the group coordinating Catholic engagement with the Royal Commission - says: Tautoko has "been working with the Royal Commission to ensure that our response has been as timely and comprehensive as possible, to honour those harmed at Marylands."

Source

• Stuff
• Scoop
• Stuff
• Stuff​

Darryl Smith was six years old when McGrath began sexually abusing him in the 1970s.

The sex offending happened at Christchurch's Marylands school for boys.

McGrath was a St John of God brother when he abused at least nine boys at the school.

He served two prison sentences in New Zealand - released most recently in 2008.

Now 54, Darryl Smith, a victim of McGrath says he's still angry.

"I got my life totally stolen from me. I had no childhood because of this monster, I lost everything," he says.

"He is responsible majorly, yes, because he did the crime, but also St John of God hid the crime. They knew these sorts of things were happening to us children and they allowed it to happen."

But sex offender McGrath didn't end there.

Offending in Australia

Despite the Marylands accusations of sex offending, St John of God appointed McGrath headmaster at Kendall Grange boys home in New South Wales.

While there through the 80s he subjected boys to sexual assaults.

In 2012, Australian authorities laid more than 250 charges against McGrath.

It took years of legal wrangling before Australia could extradite him from New Zealand to stand trial.

Last week, the court sentenced McGrath, aged 70, to 33 years' jail. He will serve 21 years without parole.

Mr Smith said it was justice and McGrath should never get out.

"The predator seems to have more money and people behind him than the victims ... in his case he's got the might of the Catholic Church behind him."

Murray Heasley is a spokesperson for the Network for Survivors of Abuse in Faith-Based Institutions.

He says McGrath would spend the rest of his life in prison. While that's some justice for his victims it took far too long to get there.

"Many of the people Bernard McGrath attacked will be dead now, and a good number of them will be dead by their own hand," he says.

Source:

• Radio NZ
• Image credit: Darryl Smith

The St John of God Waipuna Trust says an increasing number of young people have been looking for accommodation since the recent damaging earthquakes. Continue reading

Youth agency St John of God Waipuna has received funding from Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand to expand its innovative ‘Better Housing Better Health' programme. This programme has, over 24-months, supported over 100 young people and young single-parent families with desperate housing needs, through a mix of providing housing information and advocacy. With this new funding, the service will be adding a youth housing worker in the coming months with the aim of supporting 120 young people per annum. The programme is also in discussions with other philanthropic organisations to explore the possibility of managing several properties itself to house youth in desperate need.

In response to an article in The Press on 29 January 2013 highlighting the plight of young mother Amber Breiter, programme manager Paul McMahon says "Situations such as this strongly suggest that there are simply not enough houses for everyone in Christchurch and in particular for vulnerable people groups. Through expanding the Better Housing Better Health Programme, we will not only be able to support a greater number of youth in need but also inspire and contribute more actively to civic discourse on a sustainable long-term solution for the youth in our city."

A 2008 study estimated that at any time there was likely to be 1,444 vulnerable and at risk young people aged 15-24 in Christchurch living in inappropriate and insecure housing, and that was before the earthquakes. Since the February 22, 2011 earthquake, there has been a noticeable increase in young people and, in particular, young solo mothers in housing need.

Source

• St John of God Hauora Trust
• Image: Weeve
  

Fairfax Media in Australia reported that Bernard Kevin McGrath flew out of Christchurch a few months ago, some time after 252 abuse charges were laid in a Newcastle court on June 27.

The charges relate to the 65-year-old McGrath's time at Church-run institutions in Newcastle-Maitland diocese during the late in 1970s and 1980s.

New South Wales police intended to extradite McGrath from Christchurch, where he had lived since being paroled in 2008. But a New Zealand police source said the formal extradition request did not arrive until November 15.

A Fairfax Media report said McGrath is now living on a tea plantation in the highlands of Sri Lanka.

The report said Sri Lanka is a known haven for paedophiles, particularly in its rural areas where criminals run large, organised child-sex operations. It quoted the online Factbook on Global Exploitation as saying that 10,000 to 12,000 children from rural areas in Sri Lanka are trafficked and prostituted to paedophiles by organised crime groups every year.

Although Australia does not have a direct extradition treaty with Sri Lanka, it can extradite suspects from there under the London Scheme, which enables Commonwealth countries to extradite fugitive criminals to each other upon the presentation of prima face evidence.

McGrath was a teacher and dormitory master at Marylands, a St John of God boarding school near Christchurch for boys with learning and behavioural difficulties.

In 1993 he was sentenced to three years' jail for offences at Marylands and the Hebron Trust, a learning centre for street kids.

In 2002, more complainants contacted New Zealand police concerning sexual assaults by McGrath, culminating in his conviction in 2006 on 22 abuse charges.

Source:

The Age

Image: NDJ World