St John of God Brothers
The St John of God Brothers first arrived in Australia in 1947 from Ireland, where they had been established since 1879. In 1948, they opened a residential special school for boys with learning difficulties located in Morriset, New South Wales, known as the Kendall Grange Special School. In 1980 it became a residential school for boys with behavioural problems. The order opened other facilities for children with mild to severe disabilities in Victoria and Christchurch, New Zealand, and also later focused on psychiatric care and child and family services.
In 2007, the St John of God Brothers in Australia merged with the Sisters of St John of God to form St John of God Australia Ltd, a public juridical person, which controls St John of God Health Care.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse looked into the Brothers of St John of God (among many other orders) over its involvement in institutional child sexual and physical abuse. The Royal Commission showed the following data:
74 people made a claim of child sexual abuse to the St John of God Brothers between 1980 and 2015;
Almost all of the people who made a claim of child sexual abuse to the St John of God Brothers were male;
46 alleged perpetrators were identified in claims of child sexual abuse of which all were male
Of these 46 alleged perpetrators, 37 were identified as religious brothers;
Sixty-six people identified one or more religious brothers as alleged perpetrators.Of all the alleged perpetrators, one was the subject of 10 or more claims of child sexual abuse. The highest number of claims made in relation to a single alleged perpetrator who was a St John of God brother was 21;
The St John of God Brothers had 112 non-ordained religious brothers in ministry in the period 1950 to 2010.146 Of the St John of God Brothers who ministered during this period, the weighted proportion of alleged perpetrators, taking into account the duration of ministry, was 40.4 per cent and the unweighted proportion was 30.4 per cent.147 This was the highest proportion of alleged perpetrators in any Catholic Church authority surveyed;
Of the total 1,049 named institutions identified in the Catholic Church claims data, six were St John of God Brothers institutions and, of those, five were residential institutions;
Of the 74 claims made to the St John of God Brothers, over half identified the residential institution Kendall Grange, Morisset Park, New South Wales, as the location of abuse (41 claims); and
Cheltenham Residential Training Centre in Cheltenham, Victoria, was identified in 23 claims made to the St John of God Brothers.151 This training centre was established by the St John of God Brothers in 1953. It housed around 100 Catholic boys aged seven to 16 with mild intellectual disabilities, including state wards unable to live with their parents.
Moody Law has represented and is still representing victims of child sexual abuse by members of the St John of God Brothers.
We invite former victims to tell us confidentially what information they may have, and we will explain what options are available to help with these cases.
Call us or complete the confidential enquiry form below.