THE Royal Commission heard evidence on Monday from a series of former Marist Brothers Hamilton pupils whose lives have been torn to pieces in a variety of ways by the repeated sexual abuse they suffered as boys.
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Michael Balk, aged 64, and four more survivors – CNS and his brother CNV, followed by CNQ and CNR – talked about their various experiences of abuse at the hands of Brother Romuald, Brother Patrick, Brother Dominic and other clergy.
At the end of CNQ’s evidence, the commission was left pondering the fact he’d been abused by three Brothers and had two school principals tell him they could do nothing about the abuse he had suffered.
CNQ was about 12 when Dominic first abused him, burying his hand in his pants and asking if he was old enough to have pubic hair. He asked him if he was circumcised, and if he knew what that meant.
CNQ told the commission that Dominic’s abuse continued until it got to the point where the Brother bent him over to have sex.
“I screamed. Brother Dominic then released me and helped me gather my clothes. He was rushing me to get dressed and literally pushed me out of his office,” CNQ said.
Another time he was sent into Brother Dominic’s office to get chalk, and another boy was standing between the priest’s legs in is underpants and socks.
Brother Dominic was not CNQ’s only abuser. He was also assaulted at a school camp when he woke up to find another teacher, Brother Oswin, had his hand in his pyjama pants.
When Brother Patrick turned his attentions to him, CNQ said he was “stunned because of what had happened to me in the past with Brother Dominic and Brother Oswin”.
One day, with Brother Patrick sitting beside him fondling his thigh, CNQ said he punched the priest, which resulted in him being disciplined. He said when he told the headmaster, Brother John, about the abuse, the principal “put both of his hands up in a defensive manner” and said: “There is nothing that I can do about that”.
“I said: ‘That’s bullshit.’ and he replied: ‘Don’t speak to me about that’,” CNQ said.
When he transferred to St Pius X Adamstown to get away from the Marist Brothers, he said the principal there reacted the same way, putting his hands up and saying he could not do anything about it.
Earlier, CNV told the commission about Brother Romuald’s pursuit of boys in the shower room and the swimming pool, describing an occasion when the brother stood naked before about 20 boys with an erection “and a wry smile” as “just another day” at school.
