The Broken Rites victim support group helps victims of church-related sexual abuse in Australia.

Here is a list of the most recent articles (written by Broken Rites researchers) published on this website:

• A classic cover-up: A Catholic bishop in New South Wales harboured (and protected) a priest who was the subject of multiple child-abuse complaints. The priest was then transferred to another diocese, where similar issues arose. Privately, the priest admitted to church leaders that he was indeed committing sexual acts on children. Later, two of his damaged victims did not want to continue living (updated 10 February 2012, with a new section at the end of the article).
  
  
• Ex-Brother in court: A former religious Brother in the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart religious order, Edward Mamo (aged 67), is currently listed for court proceedings, charged with having indecently assaulted boys at Monivae College, a Catholic secondary school, at Hamilton, Victoria, in the late 1970s and early '80s. The charges were laid by detectives from the Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Unit in Warrnambool (posted 8 February 2012).
  
  
• Marist Brothers harboured this offender: Broken Rites Australia is continuing its research about Brother Gerard Joseph McNamara, who survived in the Marish Brothers Order for four decades until some of his victims finally got him convicted. McNamara pleaded guilty (updated 4 February 2012).
  
  
• The church harboured this priest for many years: An Australian Catholic priest, Father Victor Gabriel Rubeo, appeared in court on 28 October 2011, charged with sexual offences against two boys (from the 1960s). He was ordered to re-appear on 16 December 2011 for a full hearing but he died (aged 78) before this next court date. In 1996, Rubeo had pleaded guilty to other offences against these same boys (article posted on 1 January 2012).
  
  
• Church is forced to apologise to these victims: After action by Broken Rites Australia, the Melbourne Catholic archdiocese has apologized to former altar boys of Father Thomas O'Keeffe (article posted on 1 January 2012).
  
  
• School victims obtained justice: Broken Rites has expanded its article about former trainee Catholic priest Gregory Vincent Coffey (whose birth surname was Coffin). After being convicted for child sex-abuse, Coffey left the priesthood and was appointed as the lay principal of a Catholic school, where he targeted more victims. But more of his victims eventually reported him to the police and he was again convicted (updated 16 December 2011).
  
  
• Suicide by ex-pupils: The Marist Brothers religious order in Australia has admitted that two former pupils (from one of the Marists' most prestigious schools) committed suicide. Before dying, both men revealed that they had been sexually abused during their school years by a long-serving Brother, who is named in this Broken Rites article (posted 5 December 2011).
  
  
• The Father Vincent Gerard Ryan cover-up: Broken Rites has updated its article about how the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic diocese knowingly protected one of Australia's worst child-molester priests — and how the church kept inflicting him on additional victims (updated 19 November 2011).
  
  
• Fr Hugh Murray is excused from court proceedings: On 29 July 2011, a Sydney judge agreed that Father Hugh Edward Murray (a Catholic priest in the Vincentian religious order) was too old (81 years) and too medically unfit to undergo a trial, in which Murray was being charged with indecent assault of boys in the 1960s and '70s. The judge granted a permanent stay (updated 3 November 2011).
  
  
• Jury trials for a New South Wales priest : After lengthy legal argument, Australian courts have cleared the way for jury trials to be scheduled for Father David Anthony O'Hearn, who is charged with offences against six boys (updated 30 October 2011).
  
  
• Church leaders and the Father McAlinden cover-up: Research by Broken Rites — conducted between 1994 and 2008 — has revealed that the Catholic Church protected the paedophile priest Father Denis McAlinden for 40 years while he committed sexual crimes against young girls in parishes around Australia and also overseas. Broken Rites has updated this article to include new material (near the end of the article), under the sub-heading "One-way ticket to England" (updated 9 October 2011).
  
  
• This school punished the victim, not the molester: A Catholic boarding-school boy swore at a housemaster who molested him and then the school punished the boy instead of the housemaster, a Sydney court was told. A jury found the house master, Richard John McPhillamy, guilty of sexual offences against this boy and another boy. The court sentenced McPhillamy to a minimum of 12 months jail for assaulting the two boys (aged 13) while he worked as an assistant housemaster at St Stanislaus College in Bathurst, New South Wales. Mr McPhillamy used to be listed (on a church website) as a helper at Bathurst’s Catholic cathedral (posted 6 October 2011).
  
  
• A cover-up — the Irwin case: Broken Rites has researched Father William Stanley Irwin, who sexually abused a Melbourne teenage male to whom he was providing "counselling". The church authorities protected Irwin, and they concealed his criminal behaviour in a church file marked "Strictly Confidential". Now, at last, he has been convicted and sentenced in a Sydney court — and the church's cover-up has been exposed (updated 23 September 2011).
  
  
• Researching two priests who abused young John Hepworth: In 1993, Broken Rites Australia began researching paedophile priests, including Fr Ronald Pickering and Fr John Stockdale. In September 2011, Archbishop John Hepworth alleged that Stockdale and Pickering sexually abused him in the 1960s after he began studying in a seminary at the age of 15 to become a Catholic priest. This update includes (towards the end of the article) some new material, entitled "George Pell became involved" and "more background" (updated 22 September 2011).
  
  
• The Father Pickering cover-up: Here is the Broken Rites research (begun in 1993) about paedophile priest Father Ronald Pickering, who was harboured by the Catholic Church in Melbourne throughout his long career. In 1993, Pickering suddenly fled to England, avoiding the Australian police. Archbishop John Hepworth alleges that, when he was studying for the Catholic priesthood in the 1960s, he was abused by Father Pickering in Adelaide and Melbourne (updated 10 September 2011).
  
  
• The Father Stockdale cover-up: Here is the Broken Rites research (begun in 1993) about paedophile priest Father John Stockdale. In September 2011, Archbishop John Hepworth alleged that, at age 15 in 1960, he was abused by John Stockdale in Adelaide. In 1995 Fr Stockdale was found dead in a sex cubicle in a males-only club in Melbourne(updated 10 September 2011).
  
  
• "Towards Healing" is good for business: This Broken Rites article demonstrates how the Catholic Church's "Towards Healing" system is really a business transaction, designed to protect the church from the legal liability of compensating some victims or, at least, to limit any compensation (posted 2 September 2011).
  
  
• The cover-up in orphanages: This Broken Rites article demonstrates how easy it was to cover up sexual abuse in orphanages, where the children were alone, without access to their families. As shown in this article, the Christian Brothers have accepted complaints about Brother A.F. Webster who was in charge of St Augustine's boys' orphanage in Geelong, Victoria (posted 28 August 2011).
  
  
• Cover-up at Salesian College: Broken Rites has researched Father Michael Aulsebrook (in the Catholic order of Salesian priests and brothers), who was put in charge of a school despite a previous complaint about him committing child-abuse (updated 26 August 2011).
  
  
• How the church protected Brother Best: This Broken Rites article is the most comprehensive article available anywhere about Christian Brother Robert Charles Best, who openly committed crimes (including buggery) against young boys in Catholic schools (updated on 12 August 2011).
  
  
• Black Collar Crime: Broken Rites Australia, now in its 19th year as a whistleblower (exposing church sexual abuse), has expanded and updated its "Black Collar Crime" page, giving a list of Australian Catholic priests and brothers who have featured in criminal court cases researched by Broken Rites. In addition, on the second half of the page, there are many examples of out-of-court civil cases, researched by Broken Rites. This Black Collar Crime page is the most comprehensive list of its kind ever compiled in Australia (updated regularly).
  
  
• Current court cases: Broken Rites researchers have compiled this list of currently-scheduled court cases which Broken Rites is following. These cases, involving Catholic priests and brothers, are due to begin (or resume) in Australian courts (updated regularly).
  
  
• Priest faces an inquiry, says church: The Catholic Church in Australia stated in June 2011 that it has stood down one of its priests (Father Glenn Humphreys, a member of the Vincentian order) while an allegation of abuse is being investigated. The church says that the allegation relates to the early 1980s (posted 4 August 2011).
  
  
• The church protected Brother George Taylor: Broken Rites is researching Albert Matthew Taylor (known as Brother "George" Taylor), who was finally convicted after pleading guilty to child-sex offences. Broken Rites has interviewed ex-students from two of his schools — De La Salle Revesby and De La Salle Orange, both in New South Wales(posted 12 July 2011).
  
  
• Abuse in seminaries: While studying to become Catholic priests, some young men have been sexually abused by older priests. The victims might give up their studies, while the offenders survive in the priesthood. Here is a case-study of one victim (posted 18 June 2011).
  
  
• The priest who left Australia to live in Malta: The Catholic Church in Australia has settled a sex-abuse complaint involving a Maltese-born priest, Father Emanuel Joseph Spiteri, who spent 35 years ministering in the Sale diocese in south-eastern Australia. In 1997, while this complaint was being made, Fr Spiteri returned to Malta, where he continued to be regarded as a priest (posted 14 June 2011).
  
  
• Priest charged re child-exploitation material: Broken Rites has researched Catholic priest Neil Joseph Byrne, who appeared in a Brisbane court on 30 May 2011 on charges of possessing and making child-exploitation material (posted 8 June 2011).
  
  
• A police officer alleges a church cover-up: A senior Victoria Police officer has told Broken Rites how police investigated a Melbourne priest about serious child abuse but (the police officer says) the church hierarchy managed to achieve a cover-up. The priest continued working in various parishes until he retired in 2006, after 51 years in the priesthood (posted 8 June 2011).
  
  
• Priest jailed re St Stanislaus College, Bathurst: Father Kevin Francis Phillips was sentenced to jail in Sydney on 21 April 2011 for committing acts of gross indecency involving a 16-year-old boy at St Stanislaus boys' boarding school, Bathurst, New South Wales. Fr Phillips has also been a parish priest in Queensland — at Southport, Rockhampton and Mackay (posted 11 May 2011.
  
  
• Priest admits filming boys in shower: Broken Rites has done research about a Catholic priest, John Charles Houston (born 3 March 1955), who admitted in a New South Wales court that he had filmed boys while they were showering during a surf lifesaving carnival (updated 12 May 2011).
  
  
• The cover-up is over for Brother Maurie Howard: This Broken Rites article exposes the activities of Christian Brother Maurice Howard in Victoria and Tasmania. His schools included: St Patrick's College, Ballarat; St Kevin's College, Toorak; Christian Brothers St Kilda; and St Virgil's College, Hobart (updated 12 May 2011).
  
  
• Civil action against the Christian Brothers: In April 2011 a legal firm filed a civil action in Queensland on behalf of a former student who alleges that he was sexually abused by Christian Brother J.G. Gladwin in a Brisbane Catholic school in the 1970s. Gladwin committed suicide while police were investigating him in 1998 (posted 7 May 2011).
  
  
• A bishop helped victims but he is sacked: An Australian Catholic bishop (Bishop William Morris in south-western Queensland), who supported some of the church's sex-abuse victims in his region, has been sacked by the Vatican. But this, according to church sources, is not the reason for the sacking. Rather, it was because he was not conservative enough on other issues (posted 4 May 2011).
  
  
• Bishop Christopher Toohey: From the public record, Broken Rites has compiled this summary about Bishop Christopher Toohey (of New South Wales), who has admitted publicly that he hurt "some young adults" in his early years as a priest (posted 1 May 2011).
  
  
• Father Peter L. Comensoli: In 1989 the Wollongong Catholic diocese was warned that Father Peter Lewis Comensoli was sexually abusing boys in his parish, but the church authorities allowed him to continue in parish work. In 1993, a newspaper exposed this church scandal. Police then charged Comsensoli and he was jailed in 1994. But the church failed to laicize or defrock him and he was listed as "Reverend" for the next 16 years, until his name finally vanished from church directories in 2010 — 16 years after his conviction. This Father Comensoli is not to be confused with another clergyman — Auxiliary Bishop Peter A. Comensoli (posted 23 April 2011).
  
  
• Former schoolgirl alleges abuse: The Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane has signed an out-of-court civil settlement with a former schoolgirl who lived in Brisbane's Beenleigh parish when Father Dermot Casey was working there. According to the settlement Deed, this former primary-school pupil "has alleged that, during or about 1979, she was unlawfully sexually and physically assaulted by Fr Dermot Casey" (posted 20 April 2011).
  
  
• Part-time celibacy: How this woman, Jane, was left holding a priest's baby (posted 16 April 2011).
  
  
• More part-time celibacy: The story of Zelda, a girl who had two children fathered by a Catholic priest (posted 16 April 2011).
  
  
• A cover-up by Archbishop Little, Melbourne: Broken Rites is still being contacted, occasionally, by some of the many victims of Fr Wilfred (Bill) Baker. Archbishop Frank Little knew about Baker's child-sex crimes but allowed Baker to transfer to a new parish, thereby creating more victims (updated 24 March 2011).
  
  
• A victim's impact statement: This Broken Rites article includes a well-written impact statement, submitted to an Australian court by one victim, telling the judge how the church abuse damaged the victim's life. The impact statement is in the second half of our article, under the sub-heading "Impact Statement" (updated 22 March 2011).
  
  
• This priest 'befriended' young schoolgirls: Many years later, some Australian women are still complaining about having been abused (when they were children) by Father Dominic Phillips, a senior Catholic priest from the Vincentian Fathers order. Phillips spent many years training future priests (posted 17 March 2011).
  
  
• Chevalier College, Bowral, NSW: Broken Rites research has discovered further information about complaints at Chevalier College (a Catholic high school near Bowral in southern New South Wales) in 1988-89. This school is owned by a religious order, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (updated 12 March 2011).
  
  
• Victims get justice after 42 years: This Broken Rites article demonstrates that, under Australian law, it is never too late to try to bring a church sex-offender to justice. In Melbourne on 8 March 2011, a former Catholic religious brother (Paul Van Ruth) was finally jailed for indecently assaulting two vulnerable boys in their beds in a boarding school 42 years ago (updated 8 March 2011).
  
  
• The church says sorry to a female victim: The Catholic Church in Australia has been forced to apologise to a woman ("Diana") who was sexually abused by a priest (Father Gerard Monaghan) immediately after the death of her husband (posted 5 March 2011).
  
  
• Victims remember Brian Cairns, former Christian Brother: Today, many years after the abuse, victims of former Christian Brother Brian Dennis Cairns still feel aggrieved about how he behaved while he was a teacher in Brisbane Catholic schools in the 1970s and early 1980s (posted 5 March 2011).
  
  
• Christian Brothers, Strathfield, Sydney: Former pupils, now advancing in age, still feel the injustice of having been abused by Christian Brother L.C. McAllen (also known as Brother Cajetan McAllen) at St Patrick's College in Strathfield, Sydney, in the early 1960s (updated 4 March 2010).
  
  
• Father Denham #1 - Exposing the cover-up: In 2011, New South Wales police are continuing to investigate Catholic priest Father John Denham, who was jailed in July 2010 for crimes committed while he was on the staff of a Catholic boys' school in Newcastle. By February 2011, detectives (from Strikeforce Georgiana, based at Charlestown police station) had gathered written statements from another eight former pupils. The Catholic Church harboured Denham for 40 years until the Broken Rites website published this article about him in 2006 (updated 7 February 2011).
  
  
• Father Denham #2 - Judge slams the cover-up: When jailing the Australian paedophile priest John Sidney Denham on 2 July 2010, a judge made scathing comments about how Father Denham had been protected by the Catholic Church (updated 7 February 2011).
  
  
• Father Denham #3 - The sad story of Michael: After the paedophile priest John Sidney Denham was jailed in Australia on 2 July 2010, another family went public and revealed how they warned the Catholic Church authorities about Denham 32 years earlier, in 1978. But the church ignored the 1978 warning and continued to protect Denham until Broken Rites finally exposed him in an article in 2006 (updated 7 February 2011).
  
  
• An "Anglican-Catholic" cover-up: Broken Rites tells the full story of Anglican priest Wilfred Edwin Dennis, who was jailed in 1970 for sexually abusing an altar boy. He continued as an Anglican priest but later left the mainstream Anglican Church to join a breakaway group, called the "Anglican Catholic Church". In April 2010, he was jailed again for assaulting two other boys. In February 2011, after more victims spoke to the police, his jail sentence was extended (updated 2 February 2011).
  
  
• Salesian College: The leaders of a Catholic religious order, the Salesians of Don Bosco, have made an out-of-court settlement with a former schoolboy who alleged that he was sexually abused by a priest (Father John Ayers) while he was a pupil at a prominent Australian Catholic school (posted 30 January 2011).
  
  
• Cardinal George Pell's mentor: Australia’s Cardinal George Pell has acknowledged that his early career was helped by a generous mentor — the late Bishop James Patrick O'Collins. Research by Broken Rites has shown that Bishop O’Collins also helped certain other priests, as revealed in this article (posted 17 January 2011).
  
  
• Apology (and then praise) re a Marist Brother: Marist Brothers newsletters in Australia say that on Sunday 11 July 2010 a large crowd gathered to "praise and congratulate" six long-serving Brothers — including one who was known as Brother "Bertinus". A few months earlier, the Marist Brothers' Australian administration had apologised to three ex-pupils for an encounter which each of them allegedly had with Brother Bertinus many years ago in their school days (updated 9 January 2011).
  
  
• These victims defeat the cover-up: Catholic Church sex-abuse victims in the Newcastle region in Australia have been so successful in demanding justice that their local bishop is longing for early retirement. These victims have shattered the church's traditional cover-up of these crimes (posted 6 January 2011).
  
  
• A leading Catholic Brother was a child-abuser, the church admits: The Australian Christian Brothers have been forced to acknowledge that one of their former leaders, Brother Damien John O'Dempsey, was a serial sex-offender, abusing children who were under his care and supervision in Catholic schools. In 2010, the Christian Brothers administration gave a written apology to yet another of Brother O'Dempsey's victims (updated 4 January 2011.
  
  
• Cover-up at a Queensland Catholic school: Research by Broken Rites has found that a senior priest (Monsignor Bartholomew Frawley) covered up sexual abuse by a De La Salle Brother (Wilfred De Cruz) at a church school (now called Southern Cross Catholic College) in Scarborough, north of Brisbane. The cover-up enabled Brother Wilfred to attack more victims (updated 4 January 2011).
  
  
• St John of God Brothers — background: This Broken Rites article gives some introductory information about the Catholic religious order of St John of God Brothers, which has specialised in "caring for" disadvantaged boys and young men in Australia (posted 4 January 2011).
  
  
• St John of God Brothers had vulnerable victims: The Catholic religious order of St John of God Brothers has had an entrenched culture of sexual abuse, according to court evidence. This order had multiple offenders, one of the worst being Brother Bernard McGrath (updated 4 January 2011).
  
  
• Marist Brothers are "dysfunctional", an ex-Brother says: In December 2010 a former Catholic Marist teaching brother, now living in Queensland — Bede Hampton, aged 62 — was jailed in New Zealand for committing sexual offences against boys in a New Zealand Catholic boarding school in the early 1970s. According to the judge's sentencing statement, Hampton claimed that the offending arose because he was living in a dysfunctional religious order and was ill-suited to religious life. The judge said this did not justify Hampton's crimes. Hampton left the Marist Brothers when he was 29. He has become an interior decorator based in Queensland (posted 17 December 2010).
  
  
• Father Brian Spillane is found guilty: In the 1970s and 1980s Father Brian Joseph Spillane was a priest in the Vincentian Fathers religious order in New South Wales. On November 29-30, 2010, a Sydney jury found him guilty on multiple charges of indecently assaulting three young girls in Sydney. After the verdict, the court refused to grant bail, and Spillane was placed in custody. He is facing further trials on charges (on dates yet to be fixed) involving alleged offences against a number of boys (updated 2 December 2010).
  
  
• The priest and the schoolgirl — a church cover-up: A Sydney woman has revealed that a Catholic priest (Father Kevin Cox) sexually abused her for six years from the age of eleven. Furthermore, the sexual abuse resulted in a pregnancy at age 17 — and then the priest paid for an abortion. But the church continued to protect Father Cox. And when he died in 2008, the church gave him a hero's funeral (updated 28 November 2010).
  
  
• An ex-altar boy sues church re Father Sultana: Broken Rites Australia is researching Father Joseph Sultana, who is mentioned in a civil lawsuit in Queensland, Australia. A former altar boy is tackling the Cairns Catholic Diocese, alleging abuse by Fr Sultana (updated 12 November 2010).
  
  
• Coswello: After a Melbourne jury found him guilty on child-sex charges, Christian Brother John Francis Coswello appealed and gained the right to a re-trial. In October 2010, a new jury returned a verdict of not guilty on these charges (updated 23 October 2010).
  
  
• Mary MacKillop: The church's cover-up continues: Research by Broken Rites research has confirmed that Mary MacKillop (Australia's first saint, the co-founder of the Sisters of St Joseph) was punished by the church hierarchy after her nuns exposed a sexually-abusive priest, Father Ambrose Patrick Keating, in South Australia in 1870. In 2010, the church authorities are dodging this revelation (updated 21 October 2010).
  
  
• St Stanislaus College (Bathurst) teacher guilty: The Sydney Morning Herald reports (11 October 2010) that a former assistant housemaster at St Stanislaus College (in Bathurst, New South Wales) has been found guilty of indecently assaulting two boys from the school. Richard John McPhillamy, 49, faced trial in the New South Wales District Court accused of indecently assaulting two boys aged 12 to 13 while working at the college in the mid 1980s. McPhillamy will face sentencing on a later date (updated 16 October 2010).
  
  
• Gaven: A magistrate has ordered Brother John Gaven (a member of the Catholic order of Vincentian priests and brothers), to stand trial before a judge in the Sydney District Court, charged with sexual offences against young people. The case in now in a queue of cases at the District Court awaiting a hearing (updated 16 October 2010).
  
  
• Latest cover-up — girls abused in Queensland: Has the Catholic Church really learned lessons about "child protection"? On 4 October 2010 in Toowoomba (Queensland), a Catholic Church "child protection" officer (Gerard Vincent Byrnes) was jailed for at least eight years for sexually assaulting schoolgirls. The crimes occurred recently, in 2007 and 2008. Despite complaints, the Catholic education system allowed Brynes to continue teaching until the police arrested him (updated 4 October 2010).
  
  
• The church protected Father Peter Chalk: Catholic Church authorities helped an Australian priest, Father Peter Chalk, to stay overseas, out of the reach of Australian police. The church eventually gave a written apology to some of Chalk's Melbourne victims (updated 3 October 2009).
  
  
• Church confirms abuse by a Jesuit priest: A church-appointed investigator has confirmed that a Jesuit priest, Fr John Byrne, sexually abused a boy, aged 11, at Melbourne's Xavier College. Byrne previously taught at St Ignatius College, Riverview, in Sydney (posted 20 September 2010).
  
  
• Robson: On 14 September 2010, a Sydney District Court jury found Father Philip John Robson, 63 (a member of the Vincentian order of Catholic priests), not guilty of sex offences against a 15-year-old boy who was a pupil at a Catholic boys' boarding school in Bathurst NSW in 1991. Robson had been charged with one count of attempting to have sexual intercourse with the boy in circumstances of aggravation, and four counts of aggravated indecent assault (updated 14 September 2010).
  
  
• Church leaders knew about Father Moffat: Australian Catholic Church authorities learned that Father Murray Alexander Moffat (of Brisbane) had sexually abused a 12-year-old girl but they allowed Moffat to continue in the priesthood for many years while the public did not know about the case, according to statements made in court. But eventually, at the age of 42, the victim went to the police, instead of merely to the church authorities. The police charged Moffat. In August 2010, he pleaded guilty in court and was jailed. Now that the church's secret is out, the public knowledge makes it difficult for the church to continue using Moffat in the ministry (updated 27 August 2010).
  
  The Father Vincent Gerard Ryan cover-up: Broken Rites reveals how a Catholic Church leader, Monsignor Patrick Cotter, covered up the crimes of one of Australia's worst paedophile priests, Father Vincent Gerard Ryan, in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese (updated 6 August 2010).
  
  
• Father Charles Barnett — full story: This Broken Rites article is the most comprehensive account available about Father Charles Alfred Barnett, who was jailed in South Australia on 5 August 2010 for crimes against children in that state. Broken Rites has researched Barnett's other activities throughout Australia (updated 6 August 2010).
  
  
• Jennings: James Patrick Jennings was once a Catholic priest in the Vincentian order. In the Sydney District Court, in July 2010, he was charged with indecent assault on four boys (aged about 12) in Bathurst NSW, fifty years ago (during 1961). On 5 August 2010 the jury returned acquitted him on all charges (updated 6 August 2010).
  
  
• Tasmania's archbishop delayed taking action: In a statement issued in June 2010, an Australian Catholic archbishop confessed that he had been too slow in taking action about a senior fellow-cleric who was facing sex-abuse complaints (updated 1 August 2010).
  
  
• A Catholic Brother admits assaults on boys: In the Melbourne Magistrates Court on 23 July 2010, Peter Paul van Ruth pleaded guilty concerning multiple indecent assaults against two boys in 1969 while he worked as a Catholic religious Brother at Salesian College "Rupertswood" (a secondary school in Sunbury, near Melbourne). He will be sentenced on a later date (posted 26 July 2010).
  
  
• How Brother McMahon became "Father" McMahon: Broken Rites has discovered that the Catholic Church has made settlements with several former pupils who encountered Brother Daniel John Virgil McMahon while he was teaching with the Christian Brothers in Catholic boys' schools in Western Australia (from the 1960s to the 1980s). In the early 1990s, Brother McMahon was elevated to the rank of "Father" McMahon and was allowed to minister as a priest in parishes in Tasmania (posted 24 July 2010).
  
  
• Church accepts complaint about Fr Ray Whitehouse: After action by Broken Rites, the Melbourne Catholic archdiocese has accepted a complaint from a former altar boy who was sexually assaulted by Father Raymond Whitehouse on several Sundays after Mass (posted 24 July 2010).
  
  
• Fr Finian Egan case:This Broken Rites article gives some background on Father Finian J. Egan who belongs to the Broken Bay Catholic diocese in Sydney's northern suburbs(updated 8 April 2011).
  
  
• Brother Vincent Crawford in court: A Catholic religious brother, Vincent Crawford (a.k.a. Brother "Brendan" Crawford), of the Passionist Order, has appeared in court charged with sexual offences against a girl. The charges were withdrawn after the court was told that Crawford (aged 77 when charged) was medically unfit to undergo the court proceedings (posted 15 July 2010).
  
  
• The church harboured a priest who raped a boy:
  For years, the Catholic order of Vincentian priests covered up the criminal behaviour of Father Murray Wilson. Wilson died mysteriously at St Stanislaus College, Bathurst NSW. Eventually, with help from Broken Rites, the Vincentians were forced to apologise to a Victorian schoolboy who was raped by Father Wilson in Sydney (updated 9 July 2010).
  
  
• Fr Michael Endicott is sentenced: On 25 June 2010 in Brisbane, Father Michael Ambrose Endicott, 65, was given a jail sentence (which was wholly suspended) after pleading guilty to two counts of indecent treatment of a schoolboy (updated 29 June 2010).
  
  
• A 46-year cover-up ends in Western Australia: One way in which the Catholic Church has traditionally covered up its sex-abuse is by not preserving a written record about complaints. But prominent Australian writer Geraldine Willesee has forced the Perth archdiocese to acknowledge a complaint which she had submitted 46 years earlier about a priest who allegedly abused her when she was a pupil at a Catholic school in Perth (posted 13 June 2010).
  
  
• Church fails to enforce its ban on Father Maye: The Melbourne Catholic archdiocese banned Father Patrick Maye from the ministry but now Broken Rites has discovered that Maye went to minister in Queensland (updated 10 June 2010).
  
  
• What did Archbishop Wilson know?: A prominent Australian Catholic Church leader, Archbishop Philip Wilson, says that during his rise from junior priest to church administrator, he "knew nothing" about the sexually-abusive behaviour of fellow-priests — even though he lived and worked with some of these criminals. Does Wilson's "know-nothing, see-nothing" attitude help us to understand his extraordinary rise to the top of the Australian church hierarchy? (updated 10 June 2010)
  
  
• Ronald Conway, the church's "hands-on" therapist: For thirty years a prominent Australian Catholic psychologist, Ronald Conway, had a part-time role in assessing and helping trainee priests in the Melbourne seminary. Conway also worked in private practice, and some of his male private patients say that he abused them sexually. These disclosures throw new light upon the church's problem of clergy sexual abuse, as Australian Catholic leaders valued Conway's work in "assessing" and "helping" trainee priests (updated 10 June 2010).
  
  
• Archbishop Coleridge speaks — better late than never: After 36 years in the Catholic ministry, Canberra Archbishop Mark Coleridge has finally confessed that it took "people like me a tragically long time" to see the faces and hear the voices of sexual abuse survivors in the church (posted 24 May 2010).
  
  
• George Pell and Father Ridsdale: Why did Bishop George Pell accompany Father Gerald Ridsdale to court when Ridsdale was jailed in 1993 for child-sex crimes? (updated 9 May 2010)
  
  
• The Father Kevin O'Donnell cover-up: This Broken Rites article is the most comprehensive account available about Father Kevin O'Donnell, of Melbourne, who was jailed after he admitted sexually abusing children throughout his 50-year career, while his superiors and colleagues looked the other way. In his final years, he received public praise from one of his superiors, Bishop George Pell (updated 9 May 2010).
  
  
• Cardinal Pell and the Father Goodall case:
  This Broken Rites article demonstrates how Cardinal George Pell handled TWO complaints about Father Terence Goodall in Sydney. Pell accepted one complaint (that Goodall sexualised his pastoral relationship with a 10-year-old boy) but excused Goodall for sexualising his pastoral relationship with a teacher who had consulted Goodall for religious advice (updated 7 May 2010).
  
  
• Archbishop Pell excused a priest's abuse: Archbishop George Pell, who was in charge of the Melbourne Catholic archdiocese from 1996 to 2001, allowed a priest (Father Graham Redfern) to continue in the priesthood after a church investigation found that the priest had sexually abused a teenager while the youth was in a vulnerable state, grieving over his mother's death. The abuse allegedly began after the priest had performed the funeral service of the youth's mother. Evidently Archbishop Pell did not regard this breach of priestly power as serious enough to dismiss a priest (posted 7 May 2010).
  
  
• Another Melbourne cover-up exposed: This Broken Rites article demonstrates how three Catholic Church leaders in Australia — Archbishop Francis Little, Archbishop George Pell and Archbishop Denis Hart — allowed a Melbourne priest (Father Barry Robinson) to continue ministering after he admitted having sex with a 16-year-old boy. The hierarchy managed to keep the matter as a secret for ten years (posted 7 May 2010).
  
  
• The church harboured paedophile Father Kelvin Sharkey for 40+ years: This Broken Rites article is the most comprehensive account available about Catholic priest Kelvin Sharkey who was jailed on 29 April 2010 after pleading guilty to one incident of buggery and two incidents of indecent assault (that is, indecent touching) involving an altar boy in Wollongong, New South Wales, beginning in 1969 when the boy was aged ten. Sharkey, now retired from parish appointments, is still listed as a "supplementary priest" of the Wollongong Catholic Diocese (updated 29 April 2010).
  
  
• The Christian Brothers don't sack abusers: The Christian Brothers have admitted that they keep sex-offenders as members, as shown in the Brother Edward Dowlan case. Despite being jailed, he continued to be "Brother" Dowlan. No longer involved so much in the running of schools, the Christian Brothers say they are developing new "outreach ministries" — working with hospital patients, prisoners, Aborigines, young people in trouble, the disabled, and missions in Third World countries. These groups include some vulnerable people (updated 26 April 2010).
  
  This diocese sacked only one of its abusers: During the past 14 years, Australia's largest Catholic diocese (Melbourne) has defrocked only ONE of its many sexually-abusive priests, says the Melbourne Age newspaper (22 April 2010). Yes, just one sacking. Why such reluctance? This is like reporting: "A bank caught a hundred employees stealing the bank's money but the bank sacked only one of them; and it let the other 99 thieves keep their bank jobs." Broken Rites Australia wonders if this unlucky defrocked Melbourne priest could be Father Michael Glennon (we are not certain). Broken Rites has researched Glennon — and the most comprehensive account available anywhere about Father Glennon is on the Broken Rites website here (updated 23 April 2008).
  
  
• The Marist Brothers keep Brother Dyson: The Catholic order of Marist Brothers has kept a Brother (Brother John Desmond Dyson) as a member after he was convicted of indecently assaulting vulnerable boys in a Catholic school. The Marist Brothers have continued to list "Brother" John Dyson as being concerned with "the education and welfare of school-aged children" (updated 23 April 2010).
  
  
• Bishop Mulkearns and the Ryan cover-up: Bishop Ronald Mulkearns, in western Victoria, repeatedly appointed Father Paul David Ryan to parishes, despite Ryan being a child-abuser. One of Ryan's victims committed suicide. The church also turned Ryan loose on victims in the United States (updated 12 April 2010).
  
  
• A cover-up in Western Australia: Broken Rites has researched Father Michael Slattery who was given a church position by Archbishop Barry Hickey, despite the priest having a child-abuse conviction (updated 12 April 2010).
  
  
• Covering-up the crimes of Marist Brother Murrin: This Broken Rites article is the most comprehensive account available about Marist Brother Ross Murrin, who received a second jail sentence in February 2010. There is evidence that Murrin's Marist superiors knew that he was a danger to children but he was retained in the order, thereby putting more boys at risk (updated 12 April 2010).
  
  
• Another Marist cover-up — Brother Carter: Broken Rites has researched Marist Brother Gregory Carter — he molested a boy but was later promoted to become a headmaster (updated 12 April 2010).
  
  
• A cover-up by the De La Salle Brothers: The Catholic order of De La Salle Brothers knew that Brother Ibar (real name Frank Keating) was committing sexual crimes against his pupils but it allowed him to continue offending for many years more, according to statements made in court (updated 12 April 2010).
  
  
• Covering up in Newcastle, NSW: In 2009, Father Thomas Brennan (vicar-general, or deputy, for the bishop of the Maitland-Newcastle) was convicted of having made a false written statement to police. In a 1998 statement, Brennan told police that he "could not remember" receiving a series of child sex-abuse complaints (about another priest) while Brennan was the headmaster of a Catholic boys' secondary school in the 1970s. The staff at the school included Father John Sidney Denham, who has since been convicted for child-sex offences (updated 11 April 2010).
  
  
• The Monsignor Day cover-up: Monsignor John Day, a senior Catholic priest in western Victoria, was about to be charged by police for sexual assaults of boys and girls but was protected by the church authorities and by influential lay people (updated 11 April 2010).
  
  
• The Father Klep cover-up: This Broken Rites article is the most comprehensive account available about how the Catholic Church authorities protected Father Frank Klep, despite his criminal conviction (updated 11 April 2010)
  
  
• Cover-up at St Patrick’s College, Goulburn: The Christian Brothers managed to cover up a court case in 1989 in which a Christian Brother was convicted for sexually abusing a boy at St Patrick’s College, Goulburn (this was then a boys-only boarding school). In 2010 the offender is still a Brother, and has been given an administrative position with the Christian Brothers (updated 11 April 2010).
  
  
• The Father Searson cover-up: For years, the Melbourne Catholic Archdiocese knew that Father Peter Searson was sexually harassing boys, girls and women but he was kept in the ministry (including as a "chaplain" to the very vulnerable blind and deaf communities). Finally, when his record was about to become public, the archdiocese dumped Searson (updated 11 April 2010).
  
  
• Fuller: This Broken Rites article is the most comprehensive account available about Sydney Catholic priest Robert Fuller, who was jailed on 24 February 2010 after he admitted seeking a 13-year-old girl, through the internet, for sexual purposes (updated 24 February 2010).
  
  
• Christian Brother Houston: In 1963-71 Christian Brother William Houston worked at St Augustine's orphanage, Geelong, Victoria. On 12 February 2010 he appeared in the Geelong Magistrates Court, charged with committing offences (including buggery and indecent assault) against two boys at St Augustine's in the 1960s. The court proceedings will resume during 2010. Prosecutors will also proceed with some previously-laid charges, alleging that Brother Houston assaulted a third boy (called Mr F***** in this Broken Rites article) (updated 18 February 2010).
  
  
• Marist Brother Malcolm Hall: Today, fifty years after being sexually abused by Marist Brother Malcolm Hall in the late 1950s and early 1960s, a number of Australian men and women are still feeling hurt by his offences and by the cover-up (posted 6 February 2010).
  
  
• Lyne: Why did Father Daniel Lyne vanish from the Catholic priesthood? (Posted 4 February 2010.)
  
  
• Patrician Brother Grealy: This Catholic Brother, Augustine Grealy, covered the Virgin Mary's statue with a coat while he molested pupils (posted 9 January 2010).
  
  
• Altar boy #1 AND Altar boy #2: The Catholic Church in Australia has accepted — and settled — a complaint from a former altar boy (Damian) and a separate complaint from another altar boy (Daniel). The boys, who did not know each other, encountered the same priest (separately) when they were aged 12. The lives of both boys deteriorated, ending in death when they were aged 28 (updated 5 November 2009).
  
  
• Penn Jones: In 1994 Broken Rites began researching the "Very Reverend" Monsignor Penn Jones. Ten years later the Melbourne Catholic Archdiocese was forced to apologise to the monsignor's victims, and more complaints have surfaced in 2009 (the first version of this Broken Rites article was written in 1995; last updated 15 October 2009).
  
  
• ANGLICAN case: Broken Rites has researched one of Australia’s most prominent Anglican priests — Father James Stirling Murray — who managed to survive complaints about him committing sex offences on vulnerable boys (posted 2 October 2009).
  
  
• De La Salle: Broken Rites Australia has researched Brother Fintan Dwyer, who had a reputation in De La Salle schools for indecently and invasively touching boys' genitals. One of his victims was a pupil who later became a priest. Fintan Dwyer is not to be confused with another Brother named Finian (updated 11 September 2009).
  
  
• Whelan: Catholic priest Father James Barry Whelan exploited a vulnerable woman, the woman's barrister alleged in an Australian court (posted 11 August 2009).
  
  
• Pavlou: Broken Rites has researched the story of Father Paul Pavlou (a priest of the Melbourne Catholic Archdiocese) who has admitted committing child-sex crimes (updated 10 August 2009).
  
  
• Pidoto This Broken Rites article is the most comprehensive account available anywhere about Father Terrence Melville Pidoto, who targeted boys for 25 years while church leaders looked the other way. On 27 July 2009, the Victorian Court of Appeal refused to grant leave for Pidoto to appeal against his conviction (updated 4 August 2009).
  
  
• Wise A South Australian court has ruled that an elderly former Christian Brother, Francis Lambert Wise, was medically unfit to stand trial on charges of child sexual abuse. However, a judge held hearings in early 2009 to receive the complaints, thereby giving the victims an opportunity to have their evidence aired in court (updated 4 August 2009).
  
  
• Fr Rex Brown Broken Rites has researched Father Paul Rex Brown (once a senior priest in the Lismore Catholic diocese, New South Wales) who was convicted in Queensland for possessing child pornography (posted 20 July 2009).
  
  
• Elmer This is a Broken Rites case-study of Christian Brother Rex Ignatius Elmer, who was jailed for indecently assaulting boys at St Vincent's Boys' Home in South Melbourne (posted 20 July 2009).
  
  
• Gannon This Broken Rites article is the most comprehensive account available about the crimes of prominent Melbourne Catholic priest Father Desmond Gannon, who was sentenced in the Melbourne County Court on 10 June 2009 to another term in jail, after pleading guilty to more offences (updated 26 June 2009).
  
  
• St Gerard Majella Brothers Broken Rites helped to end a cover-up. The unmasking of the St Gerard Majella religious order (updated 9 June 2009).
  
  
• Gubbels This is the story of Catholic priest Father Jack Gubbels who was transferred from Melbourne to Queensland, where he died while police were seeking to interview him (posted 9 June 2009).
  
  
• Farrell At last, the Marist Brothers head office accepts complaints about Marist Brother Stephen Farrell, child abuser, who taught for many years in New South Wales and Queensland (posted 27 April 2009).
  
  
• Haines This is the full story of Australian Catholic priest John Haines, child-abuser. He entered the priesthood in Papua New Guinea and then transferred to Australia, where he was jailed on child-sex and child-porn charges after he was caught with child porn recorded on his mobile phone (updated 27 April 2009).
  
  
• Evans This is the most comprehensive article available anywhere about Father Paul Raymond Evans. The church protected Evans but in April 2009 his victims forced the church to apologise (updated and expanded 20 Apri1 2009, with the full text of the church's apology).
  
  
• Tector In 1994, Darren John Tector was jailed for sexual offences against boys while he was a teacher at a Catholic primary school (Our Lady of Lourdes) at Seven Hills, near Parramatta, west of Sydney. He was jailed again in 2007 (aged 41) for using the internet and a telephone to procure a child (a 12-year-old boy) for sexual activity (posted 13 March 2009).
  
  
• Fox Father Julian Fox, an Australian-born priest of the Salesians of Don Bosco religious order, now travels the world, conducting seminars for Salesian schools — but not in Australia (posted 1 March 2009).
  
  
• Reis Two female victims eventually contacted the police after the Catholic Church allowed an abusive priest to continue working with young people, a court has been told. Father Michael Francis Reis, 66 (a member of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart religious order), was jailed in Brisbane for offences against two young girls in the 1980s and 1990s (updated 1 March 2009).
  
  
• Murray After Father Magnus William Murray ("Max" Murray) committed child-sex offences in New Zealand, he was transferred to Australia, where he was allowed to minister in a Sydney parish. He later returned to New Zealand, where he was jailed in 2003 after pleading guilty to sexual offences against four of his New Zealand victims (posted 1 March 2009).
  
  
• Boyd Father Glenn Boyd left the ministry of the Wagga Wagga Catholic Diocese (in southern New South Wales) following queries about his youth work (posted 12 February 2009).
  
  
• Towards Healing The Catholic Church is privately reviewing its "Towards Healing" process for church sex-abuse victims in Australia but the church has not sent out any circular, announcing this review, to victims who have been through the "Towards Healing" process. Any submissions had to be made before 15 January 2009 to Professor Patrick Parkinson, Faculty of Law, University of Sydney, Sydney NSW 2006 (this article was updated on 4 January 2009).
  
  
• Creen Father Neville Joseph Creen repeatedly molested young girls while he was ministering in a parish in north-west Queensland, according to Creen's guilty plea in court (updated 3 January 2009).
  
  
• Sutton Marist Brother Gregory Sutton fled from Australia to the United States but was eventually extradited back to Australia, where he was jailed (posted 3 December 2008).
  
  
• Cusack The Catholic Church has admitted that a "highly respected" priest, Father Patrick Cusack, sexually molested primary school girls in the Canberra-Goulburn archdiocese during many years (posted 15 November 2008).
  
  
• Brother Down Christian Brother Graeme James Down (alias Brother "David" Down) molested school boys in Western Australia in the 1980s and was jailed in 2007. Then more victims came forward, resulting in more jail in 2008 (posted 11 November 2008).
  
  
• Hourigan A Victorian Catholic priest, Father Daniel Hourgian, died three days after police charged him with sexual offences against a boy (posted 22 September 2008).
  
  
• Eames A Melbourne priest, Father Anthony Eames, was finally convicted after committing offences against young girls for many years (posted 22 September 2008).
  
  
• Mackie Police in Newcastle, New South Wales, began investigating allegations that a Catholic priest (Fr Gerard Mackie) showed an explicit image to seven-year-old children at a government school during a "religious education" lesson (posted 15 September 2008).
  
  
• Coffey West Victorian Catholic priest Father Bryan Desmond Coffey was indecently touching young children soon after taking his vows of celibacy, a court has been told (updated 6 August 2008).
  
  
• Kostka A Catholic boys' college in Canberra allowed Marist Brother Kostka Chute to continue working with boys even after the school learned that he was molesting students, a court has been told (updated 27 June 2008, after Kostka was jailed).
  
  
• McKeirnan The Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane harboured a sex-abuse priest, Father Ronald McKeirnan, for 30 years after it first learned that he was committing criminal offences against children. And it put him in charge of sex eduction for all Brisbane Catholic schools (updated 29 June 2008).
  
  
• Donovan In May 2008 the Catholic Church's Professional Standards Office in New South Wales "accepted the veracity" of two complaints about Father Francis Donovan, a priest of the Redemptorist Fathers religious order. Two women, acting separately, had complained that Fr Frank Donovan molested them when they were young girls in the late 1970s in Maitland (posted 7 June 2008).
  
  
• Marist Brothers Catholic Church lawyers claim that religious orders do not owe a duty of care to protect pupils from sexually-abusive religious Brothers, because (unlike lay teachers who are employed on salaries) the Brothers are not, technically, "employees" (posted 5 June 2008).
  
  
• D'Cruz A Catholic priest, Father Adelrick D'Cruz, 78, pleaded guilty in the Victorian County Court at Shepparton on 22 May 2008 to indecently assaulting a schoolgirl who came to his parish house for help (updated 1 June 2008).
  
  
• Toomey A Christian Brother, Peter John Toomey, molested students in public in their classroom (posted 27 April 2008)
  
  
• Goldsmith Former trainee priest Paul Ronald Goldsmith jailed — he held "prayer meetings" for his victims (updated 19 April 2008).
  
  
• Fr Paul McLachlan The Catholic Church had a child-abuser, Father Paul McLachlan, as its spokesman in Queensland (posted 12 April 2008).
  
  
• Van Klooster This priest abused young people in two Australian states — and he had pornography on his computer, filed under 'Parish Business' (updated 4 April 2008, with a footnote containing new information).
  
  
• Connolly A Tasmanian priest, Father Paul Anthony Connolly, who was in charge of preparing future priests, pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting a child (updated 4 April 2008).
  
  
• Brother Norbert The case of Marist Brother Norbert Mathieson demonstrates how church sex-abuse can continue affecting the victims and their families for many decades after the abuse (updated 4 April 2008).
  
  
• De La Salle The De La Salle religious order has apologised to an ex-pupil who complained about Brother Wilfred De Cruz (updated 15 March 2008).
  
  
• Vincent Kiss This is the full story of Father Vincent Kiss, who admitted that he committed sexual crimes on boys while he was working as the Director of Youth for his diocese. (updated 15 March 2008).
  
  
• Bellemore Victms of Father Roger Michael Bellemore succeed in publicly revealing this priest's crimes, despite an attempt by church lawyers to stop them. This case demonstrates how church victims can triumph over a powerful institution through determination and persistence (updated 1 March 2008).
  
  
• Christian Brothers This article, written for the Broken Rites website by a victim of the Christian Brothers, gives a victim's view of Catholic Church sex-abuse in Australia. (posted 9 February 2008)
  
  
• Daly The Sydney Catholic hierarchy allowed a troublesome priest to roam free — and one victim later committed suicide (posted 9 February 2008)
  
  
• Monsignor Murray Monsignor James Murray pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting a vulnerable woman but the church re-instated him (posted 9 February 2008)
  
  
• Ferguson Victims of this priest were intimidated into silence but now they obtain justice after 36 years. Father Gregory Laurence Ferguson, of the Marist Fathers, who was jailed on 15 May 2007 for offences against two boys aged 13 at a Tasmanian boarding school, was given an additional jail sentence on 13 December 2007 for offences against a third boy (updated 14th December 2007)
  
  
• Hughes Hospital chaplains can be a health hazard, a woman patient says (29th September 2007)
  
  
• Bongiorno Father Anthony Bongiorno talked about an 'old Spanish custom' — priests sexually abusing boys (updated 29th September 2007)
  
  
• Father Howarth A young female victim defeats the church's lawyers, with help from Broken Rites (updated 18th August 2007)
  
  
• Fr Ray Deal This priest (an Archbishop's secretary) pleaded guilty (last updated 18th August 2007)
  
  
• Blackfriars School It is never too late to tell the police, these victims say (last updated 2nd August 2007)
  
  
• Father David Daniel The church ordained a child-abuser — and knowingly retained him in the ministry (last updated 2nd August 2007)
  
  
• St Catherines Priest was removed from working in a girls' orphanage after complaints about abuse (last updated 6th July 2007)
  
  
• Fitzmaurice The church apologises for what this priest did at a girls' school (last updated 6th July 2007)
  
  
• Father O'Callaghan Complaints about a priest who was involved in a church youth movement (last updated 6th July 2007)
  
  
• Christian Brothers Sex abuse at two Christian Brothers orphanages in Victoria -- St Augustine's and St Vincent's (last updated 24th May 2007)
  
  
• Coffey The Marist Brothers appointed a child abuser as a school principal (last updated 24th May 2007)
  
  
• Carroll Two female victims force the Catholic Church to apologise -- with help from Broken Rites (last updated 25th January 2007)
  
  
• The Father Mulvale cover-up: Catholic Church leaders covered up the crimes of Father Gerard Mulvale (a member of the Catholic order of Pallottine priests), according to evidence submitted in court (last updated 19 August 2011)