Patrician Brothers
The Patrician Brothers, or the Brothers of Saint Patrick, is a Roman Catholic religious order originating and based in Ireland. The Order was established in 1808 by Bishop Daniel Delany Its main purpose is to provide religious and literary education to youth while also providing instruction to its members and parishioners in Christian piety based on the Gospels. The Order came to Australia in 1883 and it quickly immersed itself in setting up schools in the country areas surrounding Sydney: Maitland, Goulburn, Bathurst, Redfern (Sydney), Dubbo, Armidale, Albury, Wagga Wagga, Forest Lodge (Sydney), Ryde (Sydney), and Orange. In Sydney, the Patrician Brothers also set up schools which continue to this day. They include:
Delany College (Granville); and
Holy Cross College (Ryde),
Like many other religious orders around Australia, the Patrician Brothers have been involved in allegations and matters involving chid sexual and physical abuse. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has provide the following figures in relation to the Order:
29 people made a claim of child sexual abuse received by the Patrician Brothers –
Congregation of the Brothers of St Patrick (1% of all claims of child sexual abuse).
This represents 2% of all claims received by religious institutes with only religious brother
members.
Of these claims of child sexual abuse:
a. 29 (100%) identified one or more religious brother as an alleged perpetrator.
Some claims identified more than one alleged perpetrator with differing religious statuses.
One (3%) person made a claim of child sexual abuse which identified more than one alleged
perpetrator.
13 (45%) people who made a claim of child sexual abuse also made an allegation of physical
abuse.
The gender of claimants (where the gender was reported) was 97% male and 3% female.
The average age of the claimants at the time of the alleged child sexual abuse was 11 years
of age.
90% of claimants were under the age of 13 years at the time of the alleged child sexual
abuse and 10% were between 13 and 18 years of age (where the age was known).
66% of claimants alleged that the incidents of child sexual abuse occurred in the period from
1970 to 1989 (inclusive).
The largest proportion of claimants alleged that the first incident of child sexual abuse occurred in the 1970s (48%).
Alleged perpetrators of child sexual abuse
11 alleged perpetrators were subject to one or more claims of child sexual abuse received by
the Patrician Brothers – Congregation of the Brothers of St Patrick. This represents less than
1% of all alleged perpetrators and 1% of alleged perpetrators identified by religious
institutes with only religious brother members.
Of the alleged perpetrators subject to one or more claims of child sexual abuse:
a. 10 had a known identity (91%). In one case (9%) the survey response did not contain
enough information to identify the alleged perpetrator.
b. Where this information was known, 100% were male and 0% was female.
c. Where this information was known, 64% were alive at the time the first claim of
child sexual abuse was made against them.
The average number of claims received per alleged perpetrator was 3.3.
Of the alleged perpetrators subject to one or more claims of child sexual abuse:
a. 11 (100%) were reported to be a non-ordained religious.
The highest number of claims of child sexual abuse received by the Patrician Brothers –
Congregation of the Brothers of St Patrick against a single alleged perpetrator was 13.
One (10%) of the alleged perpetrators was the subject of more than 10 claims of child sexual
abuse.
Moody Law is currently representing a client who has made allegations of sexual and physical abuse while he was a student at Patrician Brothers Fairfield in Sydney.
We invite former victims by any member of the Patrician Brothers at a school or at any other institution 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.