Wolves Among the Sheep > 'Mastodon' - Catholic Orphanage in New Orleans was candy store for pedophiles

 

‘We called her mastodon’: infamous New Orleans 

orphanage’s abusive history ran deeper than ever known

Survivors of child sex abuse by male and female clergy seek justice

– but are answered with silence

Geo, the name he prefers, sits in a coffee shop on a rainy afternoon as streetcars clang along outside. He is 64. He arrived at Madonna Manor, the Catholic orphanage he is now suing, in August of 1967, as a ward of Louisiana, age seven.

“My childhood was horrific,” he says matter-of-factly. “My father was an abusive alcoholic, my mother diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic. Madonna Manor was a place where dysfunctional parents dumped their children. My mom was subject to electroshock therapy and thorazine. She lost a baby. She had a psychotic breakdown and was placed in a mental hospital. The state took me over.”

Thin, bearded, redolent of nicotine, he holds a sketchbook of his works.

He enjoys the fellowship of a drawing class once a week, sketching figures of live models. Alcoholics Anonymous helps too, he says, adding: “I have been sober since 30 May and intend to go a long way sober.”

Existing on a disability check and earnings from his sporadic art sales, Geo lives on one side of the shotgun-style house where he grew up. His brother, a survivor of the same orphanage, lives on the other side. Neither man has children.

Madonna Manor and its sister facility, Hope Haven, occupy Spanish mission-style buildings on opposite sides of Barataria Boulevard in the New Orleans suburb of Marrero.

Geo knew first-hand about the abusive history of the notorious Catholic orphanages Hope Haven and Madonna Manor in suburban New Orleans. Photograph: Jason Berry/The Guardian

From the time he entered the now-shuttered complex, says Geo, the “sexual and physical abuse was constant”.

Sister Martin Marie was “a huge, ugly, mean woman we called Mastadon behind her back”, he said of a nun who worked there. “The nuns had a sadistic streak. Martin Marie liked to whip out a fold-out army shovel and beat us.”

He sips from a cappuccino sitting next to his sketchbooks.

“She was famous for grabbing and abusing us for sexual pleasure. A lot of these women – those nuns – had severe problems,” he adds.

Charles Earhardt, a bus driver and volunteer presence at the home, began molesting Geo immediately after the boy arrived, he says. Earhardt, named by several other survivors as a pedophile, was dismissed from his duties. Yet somehow he managed to adopt two boys – and, in short order, abused them, too, according to documents produced during a memorandum that led to a $5.2m settlement between the church and orphanage abuse claimants.

The Guardian gained access to that memo, written by the attorneys Frank LaMothe, Roger Stetter and Michael Pfau – the representatives of 18 orphanage victims – to a court-approved mediator also working with lawyers for the Roman Catholic archdiocese of New Orleans and Catholic Charities, which oversaw Hope Haven and Madonna Manor.

The memo not only contains that incomprehensible revelation about Earhardt. It also makes clear that there were more abusers – and more victims – than ever known at two orphanages that have come to embody the scourge of clergy molestation in south-east Louisiana.

An institution out of control

The sheer scope of the institutional sexual abuse that the Catholic church in New Orleans concealed at the orphanages alone beggars belief.

“The institution was … out of control, had no safeguards to protect the children, and was a haven for pedophiles,” wrote LaMothe, Stetter and Pfau in a 2009 report to the mediator helping them negotiate with the church attorneys.

Earhardt is now dead. So is Sister Martin Marie and seven other nuns accused of physical and sexual abuses while Earhardt and 13 other male predators sexually traumatized boys at the orphanages, according to the narrative in the settlement memorandum, anchored in files that church attorneys provided in the discovery phase of the litigation.

Please continue reading on the Guardian at:

A New Orleans archdiocese spokesperson

Horrid Stats from France and Ireland, Awful Stories from Russia & Pakistan on Today's Global PnP List

1,882 allegations of child sex abuse in 135 religious orders in Ireland

A total of 1,882 allegations of child sexual abuse were returned in the Section 5 audit questionnaire completed by all 135 religious orders.

The allegations relate to 549 clerics and religious order members, current, former, and deceased.

A total of 56, or 10%, of individuals were convicted of child sexual abuse offences.

A total of 1,078, or 57%, of allegations relates to abuse against living members that occurred in the Republic of Ireland. 

A total of 37 allegations have been made against 22 members who were in ministry (at the time of the audit cut-off). And 542 allegations have been made against 159 members who have been placed out of ministry.

A final figure of 523 allegations were assessed as meeting the reporting duration threshold.

Of those, 12% of the allegations were promptly reported to the civil authorities since 1996, rising to 19% in the most recent ‘safeguarding’ phase from 2009 to 2013.

A total of 626 allegations were returned in the Section 5 audit questionnaire completed by the Congregation of the Christian Brothers — the highest figure for any order.

And yet, they, and the St John of God orders are allowed to continue to exist although they certainly appear to be a hotbed of paedophilia.

Kirkcaldy child rapist jailed for nine years

A child rapist who made victims of his abuse carry out sex acts on each other has been jailed for nine years.

A judge told David Morrison that he had been convicted of "a shocking series of violent and sexual crimes".

Lord Ericht said Morrison had been assessed as posing a high risk of reoffending.

He will be kept under supervision for a further three years after his release from prison and has been put on the sex offenders register indefinitely.

Morrison, 50, from Kirkcaldy, began abusing one girl from the age of four and his offending later escalated into repeatedly raping her.

Now aged 28, the victim earlier told the High Court in Edinburgh that she self-harmed in the wake of the ordeal.

'Serious and unpleasant case'

Another female victim, now aged 31, said she was first sexually abused by Morrison was when she was aged eight or nine. The attacks happened at addresses in the Dysart and Kirkcaldy areas.

9 years is a slap on the wrist for this pervert. He should not be given the chance to do it again because he has proven that he will. According to the reporter here, he is supposed to be 50, but he looks closer to 75. Maybe he won't survive the 9 year sentence.

Morrison had denied a string of charges during an earlier trial. But a jury found him guilty of 10 offences of assault, indecency and rape committed between 1989 and 2016 at addresses, a disused building and woods in his home town.

Lord Ericht earlier told jurors it had been "a very serious and unpleasant case". Morrison had claimed that none of the sexual abuse had taken place and maintained he had "no idea" why his accusers' gave such evidence.

He had previously been on bail ahead of the trial with a special condition that he did not have unsupervised contact with children under the age of 16.

But he was arrested in October last year after breaching the bail order by taking a 10-year-old boy to soft play and a fast food restaurant.

1 in 8 French women has been been raped,

survey reveals

© Arman Zhenikeyev / Getty Images

A shocking new survey of French women has found that roughly 12 percent of them have been raped at least once in their lifetime. Some 43 percent of respondents also said they had been sexually touched without their consent.

43% had been sexually touched without their consent

The study, carried out by the Paris-based think tank, Fondation Jean Jaurès, surveyed 2,167 women to assess the frequency of and attitudes towards sexual violence in the country. Alarmingly, it found more than half of participants (58 percent) have been subjected to disturbing propositions.

The study analysed various forms of sexual abuse, from pornographic messages sent via email or text, to cyber-harassment and gestures with sexual connotations. The report says it highlights “the complex, repetitive and cumulative nature of this type of violence among the women concerned”.

Furthermore, the survey found most women who reported such abuse have experienced it several times in their lifetimes. Sexual abuse of any kind can cause "heavy consequences and long-term repercussions suffered by the victims," according to the report.

Much like the #MeToo movement, French women have felt empowered by the Hollywood retaliation against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, to share their own experiences on social media under the hashtag “#BalanceTonPorc” (“rat on your pig”). However, a number of prominent French women, including model Laetitia Casta and actress Catherine Deneuve, criticized the movements for their growing radicalism that turns women into victims and summarily punishes men even for reported misdeeds without giving them a chance to defend themselves.

It's not like women who have been harassed have had a chance to defend themselves, until now. I am concerned about the instant condemnation that occurs on Twitter, but I suspect very few men don't deserve that condemnation.

The French minister for gender equality Marlène Schiappa has set out plans to crack down on sexual violence and harassment. The new measures include introducing an on-the-spot €90 fine for catcalling, lengthening the time within which sexually abused children can make an official complaint and toughening the laws against sex with minors.

Australian deputy PM Barnaby Joyce resigns

over affair with adviser

By Sara Shayanian 

Australian Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said Friday he would resign, amid a growing controversy surrounding an extramarital affair he had with an adviser.

Photo by Lukas Coch/EPA-EFE

UPI -- Australian Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said Friday he will resign amid a scandal tied to an extramarital affair with a former adviser, who's now pregnant with his child.

Joyce said he intends to remain as a lawmaker but give up his major roles, including his leadership post atop the Australian Nationals Party. Briget McKenzie has been named as its acting leader.

"I will continue to fight for the people in the weatherboard and iron, for the people on the peripheral and the small regional towns," Joyce said in a tweet. "I used my experience of these towns and my goal in life will always be to try to make their lives better."

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was told of Joyce's resignation on Friday.

Turnbull said Joyce made a "shocking error of judgement" by having an affair with media adviser Vikki Campion. Last week, the Australian leader banned Cabinet ministers from having sexual relationships with staffers.

Joyce called Turnball's remarks "inept" and "unnecessary."

Pressure for the 50-year-old Joyce to resign continued to grow after it was reported that an unidentified woman made a sexual harassment complaint against him -- which Joyce said was "the straw the breaks the camel's back."

"I have asked that be referred to the police," Joyce told reporters Friday. "I've asked for the right of the person who's made the allegation and I've asked for my right of defense that be referred to the police."

"But it's quite evident that you can't go to the Despatch Box with issues like that surrounding you."

The Despatch Boxes are two wooden chests that sit on the central table in the House of Representatives, next to the Prime Minister's chair and the Leader of the Opposition's chair. The Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition, ministers and shadow ministers use the Despatch Boxes to rest their speech notes and other documents on while addressing the House—that is when they are said to be speaking 'from the Despatch Box'.

Pakistan acquits 12 men accused of child sex abuse

Pakistan's judicial system proves again that it is 3rd world caliber

LAHORE, Pakistan — A Pakistani court acquitted 12 men of child sex abuse and blackmail charges on Saturday, the latest verdict in a massive pedophilia scandal that rocked the country in August 2015.

The abuse and extortion scandal, which authorities have called the largest in Pakistan’s history, allegedly involved hundreds of victims in Punjab province.

Two of the accused were jailed for life in April last year.

Judge Chaudhry Ilyas acquitted the men of “sexual abuse of a young boy and making a video to blackmail his family,” a court official said.

Apparently, 16 witnesses are not enough

Prosecutors produced 16 witnesses against the accused men, but could not prove the charges, the official said. Another court official confirmed the details.

In the village of Hussain Khanwala in Kasur, southwest of Lahore, videos were made of at least 280 children being sexually abused by a gang who blackmailed their parents by threatening to leak the videos.

The police, who had conspicuously failed to act despite pleas from some parents, eventually made dozens of arrests after clashes between relatives and authorities brought the issue into the media spotlight.

In March 2016, Pakistan’s Senate also passed a bill that criminalized sexual assault against minors, child pornography and trafficking for the first time — previously only the acts of rape and sodomy were punishable by law.

Last week a court handed four death sentences to a man charged with raping and murdering a six-year-old girl, in a case that shocked the country and sparked major riots in his home district.

Imran Ali, 24, was on trial for killing Zainab Fatima Ameen in Kasur last month.

He faces further charges in the cases of at least seven other children attacked in the Punjab city — five of whom were murdered — in a spate of assaults that had stoked fears a serial child killer was on the loose.

Ali has confessed to all eight attacks, including the death of Zainab. — AFP

I do commend the court that issued one death sentence and 5 - 25 year sentences for some of those who murdered Mashal Khan in a fake blasphemy case. It was really about a debate where Khan touched a nerve and mass hysteria ensued. Such is not unusual in Pakistan or Afghanistan.

Sexual abuse & rape claims by children from Russian orphanage trigger probe

Sexual abuse that reportedly took place in an orphan boarding school sent shock-waves across Russia after its former residents described the horrors that happened there, claiming they had been raped by a visitor and staff.

A home for children with developmental disabilities in a tiny village in the Chelyabinsk Region has come under the spotlight of the Russian media this week after three adoptive families broke the silence over the nightmares their sons went through while living there.

All of them claim the boys were systematically raped by staff and one man who often came to visit. “I asked my son what they did with the man who came to see them. My son was stunned and said: ‘we made fried potatoes.’ I asked what else they did. ‘He raped me’ – that was his answer,” one of the mothers said.

Other parents also indicated that it was the same man who their children identified as Sergey. According to them, he would take the boys to the lake to fish or make fried potatoes, after which he would rape them in the reeds along with his friend. All the while, one of the supervisors who accompanied the children watched as they were molested.

As it was happening, the boys saw the men handing “green bits of paper” to the supervisors. Sergey wasn’t the only rapist, the kids claim. A married couple who worked in the home forced the children to take part in orgies.

“When my son finally found [the] courage to tell everything, he said ‘I was so afraid, they told me they would drown me in the lake or would lock [me] up in a rehab for the rest of my life.’”

Yet, some of the residents of the Cheremushki village where the orphanage is located appear to be not sure about whether the harrowing allegations should be believed.

“How can it be? These kids use their imagination very well,” Raisa, an elderly woman who used to work in the home, told RT. Still, she conceded “it’s impossible to come up with all this.”

Others believe the orphanage has serious problems, with children running freely outside the premises without supervision. “These children beg and steal. They ask adults to buy them cigarettes and alcohol in a local store. They rape each other, those kids, and talk about it openly. Prisoners don’t speak as these kids do,” a woman named Natalia told RT.

“This is the orphanage where children from difficult families come from across our region. I wish the orphanage was fenced off.” Another local resident echoed Natalia’s words, saying that “children are on their own,” walking around and torturing stray animals.

The same day the story broke in a local news outlet, the region’s investigative committee announced they had arrested an alleged abuser, a 51-year-old local resident. 

Although the authorities didn’t name the man, he is believed to be Sergey Kokorin from Chelyabinsk. His family and friends, however, are convinced it was a frame-up, describing Sergey as “a decent, educated man.”

“There have been rumors about [the home] for a long time,” a woman who asked to be called Natalia and who lives with Sergey told RT. “I heard that young men who were brought up there came there to stay overnight and rape children. The headmaster let them. Last year, a boy hanged himself… And now they are trying to put all the blame on Sergey, that because he raped him, the boy committed suicide.”

While Moscow investigators have taken over the case, children’s ombudsman Anna Kuznetsova instructed special commissions to inspect all orphanages in the Chelyabinsk Region. Earlier, Kuznetsova supported a bill that would impose harsher punishment for child sex abusers, introducing life sentences instead of the maximum 20 years in prison.

Red Cross and Plan International admit

cases of sexual misconduct

The International Committee of the Red Cross says it is 'deeply saddened'

More charities have revealed cases of sexual misconduct among staff and associates in the wake of the Oxfam scandal (3rd story on link).

The International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed 21 workers had been sacked or resigned from their roles since 2015, after paying for sexual services. The charity admitted it should have been more vigilant and said it was "deeply saddened".

It comes as children's aid charity Plan International admitted six cases of sexual abuse and exploitation of children between July 2016 and June 2017.

Plan International revealed the abuse in a blog

One involved a staff member who was dismissed, the charity said in a statement on its website, while the other five involved volunteers or partner organisations, whose contracts were terminated.

Five of the cases "were of a criminal nature" and were reported to local authorities.

During the same period there were nine incidents of sexual harassment or sexual misconduct by staff on other adults, which led to seven dismissals and two warnings about inappropriate language, the statement said.

Plan International campaigns for children's rights and provides aid for more than 50 countries to improve access to food, water, shelter and education.

In its statement, first published as a blog post by Plan International UK chief executive Tanya Barron, the charity said: "Sadly, as an aid community, we are not immune from the utterly unacceptable actions of a small number of those who work for and with us."

It added: "The painful but important truth to acknowledge is that sometimes things can go wrong. When they do, we are deeply sorry."

"We are fully committed to efforts among NGOs, government and the United Nations to make sure we do everything within our power to stop abuse, including strengthening our approaches to safeguarding and HR, and creating a culture that encourages staff to speak out."

A man searches through the rubble in Port-au-Prince on January 18, 2010 after the country was rocked by a massive 7.0-magnitude quake

Oxfam workers have been accused of using prostitutes while responding to the Haiti earthquake. The charity said none of the incidents involved British staff or citizens.

The British Red Cross, in a statement released on Friday, also said there had been no dismissals of British staff working overseas for reasons relating to sexual misconduct in the past five years.

International Red Cross director-general Yves Daccord said he was "deeply saddened to report" the incidents of misconduct. He said: "This behaviour is a betrayal of the people and the communities we are there to serve. It is against human dignity and we should have been more vigilant in preventing this.

"The ICRC has more than 17,000 staff members worldwide. We are concerned that incidents that should be reported have not yet been reported, or were reported but not properly handled. We are taking action to address this."

Haiti Officials Looking into New Abuse Allegations Against U.S. Orphanage Founder

A Haitian national flag flies at half-mast on the front lawn of the former
National Palace in this 2013 file photo. (AP)

David McFadden, 
The Associated Press 

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Haitian investigators are looking into new allegations of child sex abuse against a U.S. man who founded an orphanage for boys in Haiti's capital decades ago.

Police with an arrest warrant searched unsuccessfully Friday for Michael Geilenfeld at a modest private residence in a mountainside community above Port-au-Prince and the nearby Wings of Hope home for about 30 physically and mentally disabled children and young adults. On its website, the facility says it is a "critical part" of Geilenfeld's charitable organization.

The American is already the subject of another criminal case in Haiti that accused him of sexually abusing boys in his care. He spent 237 days in detention before being released in April by a Haitian judge who dismissed the charges in a brief trial that was not attended by the accusers, now adults. But the justice minister granted a re-examination of the case and it is now in court again on appeal.

Geilenfeld had also filed a separate civil case in the U.S. in which a jury in late July ordered a Maine activist to pay $14.5 million in damages to him and North Carolina-based Hearts with Haiti after finding he defamed them by leading an email blitz accusing the American man of sexually abusing Haitian children. The activist, Paul Kendrick, has requested a new trial.

Wings of Hope front gates

In the trial of his U.S. civil case in Maine, Geilenfeld testified that he believed the accusations of sexual abuse lingered against him in impoverished Haiti because he was a gay man in what he described as a homophobic country.

Geilenfeld, an Iowa native and former Catholic brother, founded the St. Joseph Home for Boys in Haiti's capital in the 1980s. At the defamation court case in Maine, which saw seven Haitian men testify they were molested as youngsters by the U.S. man, Geilenfeld said he was inspired by Mother Teresa's missionary work to do good works in Haiti. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

During the Friday search at the Wings of Hope facility in Fermathe, a government official who accompanied police showed reporters an arrest warrant for Geilenfeld signed Thursday by General Prosecutor Jean Abner Emile. Geilenfeld returned to Haiti after the U.S. jury in the civil case returned its verdict in late July.

Haitian authorities questioned staff members about Geilenfeld's whereabouts. Communications director Renee Dietrich told them she had spoken to him several days ago but didn't know where he was. She also showed them unanswered calls she made to him on her cellphone.

Dietrich declined to speak to Associated Press journalists who witnessed the Friday police searches, referring all queries to Geilenfeld's U.S. lawyer, Peter DeTroy. He did not respond to an email seeking comment and has previously said he has no involvement with legal matters in Haiti.

Alain Lemithe, Geilenfeld's Haitian lawyer, said he was confident his client would prevail in Haiti's appeals court in the coming weeks and said the timing of new allegations appeared to be "very suspicious."

Haitian investigators were accompanied Friday by Valerie Dirksen, a real estate agent from the Atlanta metropolitan area who asserts Geilenfeld is a serial abuser of children. She sponsors two young Haitian men who grew up in Geilenfeld's care and she insists there are many alleged victims who passed through the orphanage.

According to Dirksen, the new arrest warrant for Geilenfeld was issued after a magistrate judge visited the St. Joseph Home for Boys and found three youngsters residing there with him, a violation of an earlier mandate by Haiti's child welfare authority.

"I will stay here in Haiti until he is arrested," she said outside the Wings of Hope home.

Catholic Priest Accused of 'Child Sex Abuse Tourism' Set to go on Trial

Rev Joseph Maurizio has pleaded not guilty

TANIA RAHMAN  
NEW YORK
The trial is set to begin of a US priest accused of sexually abusing children in Central America.

The Rev Joseph Maurizio Jr, from Pennsylvania, was charged last year with possession of child sex abuse materials, engaging in sexual relations with a minor and transmitting funds to or from the US with the intent to promote carrying on an unlawful activity.

The 70-year-old priest, who traveled annually to Honduras between 2004 and 2009 to provide support for homeless boys and for missionary trips, is accused of molesting young boys who lived in an orphanage during this time. Investigators referred to Mr Maurizio’s conduct as “sexual tourism”.

Rev Joseph Maurizio

Prosecutors and defense attorneys for the trial are now haggling the details for the trial and jury selection in Jonestown, Pennsylvania, is due to begin on Tuesday.

An expert witness is expected to give testimony on the impact of sexual abuse on children, which prosecutors hope will help secure evidence that the victims exhibited such effects.

Stephen Passarello, the defence lawyer, protested against the use of such a witness, stating that she had not interviewed any of the alleged sexually abused victims.

During the court case last year, Mr Passarello described Mr Maurizio as a man who “devoted his life to missionary work and helping underprivileged children."

Mr Maurizio of is accusing of bribing the children with money and chocolate in exchange for or after sexual activities.

Accusations reached the ears of ProNino USA, the US charity that sponsored the homeless boys’ orphanage, Foundation ProNino. Upon confrontation, the priest denied the accusations.

It's amazing to me how many men with the title Reverend show not the least amount of reverence.

Royal Commission - Another Orphanage, More Horror Stories

Child sex abuse victim speaks about shame of Swan Homes orphanage

DANIELLE LE MESSURIER
PerthNow

Now known as Swanleigh, Swan Homes was an orphanage run by
the Anglican Diocese of Perth

Perth, Western Australia
THE torchlight was always the giveaway, the sure sign “they” were coming.

Then the footsteps would creak on the floorboards — softly, taking care not to wake the other boys — before stopping short at one of the beds.

As four-year-old David cried quietly in his bed at Swan Homes, an Anglican orphanage in Middle Swan, he wondered if they had come for him again.

But there was no solace if they took one of his friends, because he knew what horrors awaited them.

For the first time, The Sunday Times can reveal at least four children were abused at the orphanage.

‘David’, a victim of child sexual abuse at Swan Homes orphanage, is now help-
ing the Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse.

“That kid was going to go through what I’ve been through. Probably took them into the same place they took me — an office with a big bloody table in there,” said David, which is not his real name, and whose identity The Sunday Times has protected.

“The kid would be saying, ‘I don’t want to go, I don’t want to go,’ but they’d just manhandle him out. I used to sit there and sob because I knew what was going on.”

David suffered a further five years of abuse in the 1950s before he was adopted out of the orphanage, run by the Anglican Diocese of Perth. He has kept the abuse a ­secret for six decades — until now.

Last month David, now aged in his 60s, received $80,000 compensation from the Anglican Church and a formal ­apology from Archbishop Roger Herft.

David said he knew his abuser and provided his name to the Royal Commission. The man died in the early 1990s.

Swan Homes in the 1950s

It took three failed marriages and decades of torment before David worked up the courage to speak out last year.

He contacted the Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse after he watched a report on the testimony given by a victim of abuse at the WA Christian Brothers-run Bindoon Farm School.

“It’s been 18 months now since I started this and it’s been nothing but stressful, and it hasn’t finished,” David said.

He described compensation from the Anglican Church as ­“insulting” and told how, more than half a century since the abuse, he showers up to four times a day but feels “like a grot”.

Swan Boys’ Orphanage was founded in 1868 and renamed Swan Homes in 1943.

It has been known as Swanleigh since 1960 and is now a camps and conferences facility. It continues to be run by the Anglican Diocese of Perth.

'David', fourth from the left, with other boys at the orphanage in the 1950s

Archbishop Herft said he had appeared before the Royal Commission and apologised for the ­“immense pain, suffering and ongoing anguish caused to those who have survived child abuse”.

“In respect of Swan Homes the Diocesan director of professional standards is aware of two persons who were abused presenting their cases before the Royal Commission in the private hearings held in Perth,” Archbishop Herft said.

“Four complaints have been made to the Professional Standards Committee and three of these persons have accessed the pastoral care and support scheme of the Diocese which includes counselling, pastoral care, an apology and financial redress.”

The Diocese has not been told a Royal Commission public hearing would be held into Swan Homes.

The front cover of The Sunday Times — July 9, 1911

ORPHANS’ HORRIBLE HISTORY REPEATED

DAVID’S harrowing account of his abuse at Swan Homes comes more than a century after The Sunday Times exposed the mistreatment of children at the Perth orphanage.

Between 1907 and 1911, this newspaper investigated the Anglican Church-run orphanage to expose “clerical child slavery”.

An article published in April 1907 revealed a “bully boy” reverend at the orphanage refused to allow a mother to reclaim her children.

The Sunday Times decried the taking of children as private property as a “shrieking anachronism and a gross abuse of privilege”.

“The Sunday Times is going to get those children out,” the page five ­article states.

“This paper is going to burst the bubble of ecclesiastical arrogance which usurps proprietary rights over human flesh and blood.

“The real guardian of these children is the STATE. The church is merely a deputy guardian liable to be removed at any time.”

The next month, the children were released and the reverend was forced to step down.

Perth waterfront

Four years later, an inquest was ordered into the death of a 10-year-old boy at the orphanage. The boy died of toxaemia and rheumatism, but the inquest found his death was accelerated by gross negligence.

It was discovered that orphans were underfed and lacked clothing.

The Anglican Orphanages Committee was accused of being lax in its supervision, leading to unjustified use of corporal punishment.

Email the reporter: danielle.lemessurier@news.com.au

Missions Volunteer Guilty of Sexually Abusing Children in Kenya

OKLAHOMA CITY - A federal jury has reached a verdict in the trial of Matthew Durham. He has been convicted of illicit sexual conduct with children at a Kenyan orphanage.

Prosecutors said 20-year-old Durham of Edmond, Oklahoma, targeted the children while he worked at an orphanage in Kenya. Earlier this week, Durham testified that he never abused any of the children.

Matthew Durham

Friday afternoon, a federal jury found Durham guilty on seven counts, and not guilty on 10 counts. He's found guilty on seven counts of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places, and not guilty on eight counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, one count of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, and one count of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places.
The Durham family and his friends left the courthouse without a comment.

Matthew Durham's attorney Stephen Jones said they were obviously disappointed with the conviction, but now their focus is on the sentencing.

"It was not as good as we wanted too see but could have been worse", said Jones.

" This is not a verdict to celebrate. The only winner here is justice," said US Attorney Sandy Coats. "Bottom line is that Mr. Durham is a threat to children, and it will be our position that he should be extricated from society at sentencing for a significant period of time."

Durham faces 210 years in prison if he gets the maximum penalty for each count. A sentencing will likely take place 90 days from Friday, June 19. 

Durham showed no emotion when the verdict was read. 

Retired Bishop Apologizes for 'Failing Victims' of Child Sex Abuse

Child sex abuse inquiry: Retired Bishop sorry for sexual abuse of children at Queensland orphanage

By Marlina Whop and William Rollo
ABC News, Australia

Bishop Heenan apologising outside the Royal Commission,
which is sitting in Rockhampton, Queensland (ABC News)

Retired Rockhampton Bishop Brian Heenan has apologised for the sexual abuse of children at St Joseph's Orphanage at Neerkol in central Queensland and for failing victims when they came forward.

"I apologise again for the harm and suffering of former [residents] at Joseph orphanage residents at the hands of the Catholic Church, priests and sisters and staff," he said outside the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

"I also apologise for the way in which I responded to these victims. I failed them and for that I'll be forever sorry."

Bishop Heenan was cross examined for the second day at the Rockhampton hearings over the church's responses to the abuse allegations at the Neerkol orphanage from the 1940s to the 1970s.

Father Reg Durham, who was the administrator for the parish of Neerkol and had resided in the presbytery, was charged in 1997 with 40 sexual offences against five former residents and pleaded guilty to six counts of indecently dealing with a child.

Bishop Heenan told the inquiry he never took steps to de-frock Father Durham - even after the priest pleaded guilty - before his death in 2002.

In his apology, Bishop Heenan said, "I hope my evidence has provided a deeper understanding of the devastation of sexual abuse, what it does to the victims and their families. I also hope it will help the royal commission to develop recommendations that will make all institutions safer for children."

Children at St Joseph's Orphanage at Neerkol, west of Rockhampton, were raped,
molested and beaten, the inquiry has heard. (ABC Local: Alice Roberts)

Bishop Heenan was ordained in 1962 and was in charge of the Rockhampton diocese from 1991 until he retired in 2013.

The commission heard on Friday that it took Bishop Heenan three years to restrict Father Durham's contact with children and in 1999 he gave him a character a reference.

He also admitted that at one point he tried to protect the reputation of the Catholic Church rather than consider the victims of sexual abuse.

At one point? How about at every point?

Abuse victim Mary Adams, who gave evidence last week, said she felt satisfied hearing Bishop Heenan's testimony.

"Bishop Heenan has endeavoured to right the wrongs of the past, I feel he's certainly moved further down the track than he had in the earlier days," she said.

"I'm certainly impressed with his honesty, but it certainly hasn't helped me tremendously because I will say that a lot of my dealings with the church, I had to initiate."

The Commission, which began hearings last Tuesday in Rockhampton, was told that for more than three decades, children at the orphanage were raped, molested and beaten.

The Sisters of Mercy ran the Neerkol orphanage for half a century before it closed in the late 1970s.

One witness says she was raped when she was 14 by a worker at the orphanage in 1965, another was sexually abused by a priest and forced to drink her own urine to stay hydrated.

Nun did not reach out to victim

A senior member of the Sisters of Mercy gave evidence after Bishop Heenan and said she too did not offer to help a victim.

Sister Berniece Locke said she first became aware of abuse allegations when she saw an article in a Rockhampton newspaper in the early 1990s.

The article quoted a former resident who suffered a miscarriage after she was raped when she was 11 years old.

Sister Locke has testified that she knew the victim but did not contact her.

"I wasn't sure if the story was correct or not, wasn't convinced it was true," she told the inquiry.

So, just in case, you did nothing!

Sister Locke denied trying to protect the reputation of the Catholic Church, and said there were no proper protocols for responding to abuse at the time.

Good grief! You need proper protocols before you can respond to something as devastating as child rape? Sisters of Mercy - what a disgraceful misuse of the name!