Israel Folau’s church infiltrated by mother of World Cup Wallaby

An undercover operation run by the mother of a Wallabies player aimed at bringing down Israel Folau has left his ex-teammates in disbelief.

The mother of a Wallabies player infiltrated Israel Folau’s church to reveal the “truth” about its teachings.

Helen Petaia has admitted she used a fake name to exchange messages online with Folau’s cousin, Josiah, to press the 20-year-old student about the beliefs of the Truth of Jesus Christ Church run by Israel Folau’s father, Eni, before leaking what she was told to the media.

Helen is the mother of Jordan Petaia — a young star who made his debut for the Wallabies against Uruguay at the Rugby World Cup in Japan last weekend.

The Herald Sun obtained correspondence between Ms Petaia and Folau’s 20-year-old cousin Josiah that formed the basis of an expose that was published by the Sydney Morning Herald.

She probed the young man about his views on the faith of Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Hillsong pastor Brian Houston and described the church to the newspaper as an “isolated hate group”.

It resulted in Josiah being fired from a casual job as a boarding house supervisor at St Gregory’s’ Catholic College in Sydney days after he was quoted as saying the Catholic Church was the “synagogue of Satan”.

The revelation Helen Petaia was behind the sting hasn’t been well received in the Wallabies camp at the World Cup. A source toldThe Australianthat Israel Folau had been “inundated with messages of support” from his former teammates, which expressed their “utter disbelief” at the “extreme lengths” she had gone to.

Helen Petaia with her son, Jordan.

Australia's wing Jordan Petaia playing against Uruguay. (Photo by GABRIEL BOUYS / AFP)

As part of her undercover investigation, Ms Petaia also travelled from her Queensland home to attend a prayer meeting at the church in Sydney. She obtained “evidence” but would not say if she recorded anything.

Part of Mrs Petaia’s motivation was to inform the Australian Christian Lobby — which raised money for Folau’s legal expenses — about what his church believed in.

She had not informed Jordan about her actions, but was concerned that he and other young people would be influenced by Israel Folau’s star power.

She focused on the topic of litigation in the correspondence with Folau’s cousin. “What does the bible say about suing people?” she asked. “I wonder if this is something Jesus would ever consider doing.

“Your cousin Israel seems not to understand forgiveness and demonstration of the love of Jesus, he is behaving just like nonbelievers even though he says he is standing up for all people of faith.”

Israel Folau. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)

Folau has been axed by Rugby Australia because of social media posts linked to his religious beliefs.

The staunch Christian is suing RA and the NSW Waratahs for unlawful dismissal, claiming his firing earlier this year over the social media messages was because of his religion.

In one April post, Folau claimed transgender people were evil and should repent while another paraphrased a bible passage saying “drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, athiests and idolators” would go to hell unless they repented.

It was the second time he’d been pulled up for the same conduct, after it was revealed he offered to walk away from the sport and his contract over similar posts in April 2018.

RA and the Waratahs filed their defences to Folau’s allegations in the Federal Circuit Court last month, revealing Folau conceded before a tribunal in May that his posts had breached the sport’s code of conduct.

Faced with his concessions and refusal to remove the posts, the tribunal had little choice but to direct his contract be terminated, RA claims.

It says it’s “remarkable” Folau now claims his posts did not breach the code and that he also conceded the posts had the potential to damage RA’s relationship with sponsors and knew transgender and homosexual people may have been offended.

Folau claims his sacking was on the basis of his religion and has meant he can no longer play rugby union at an international level.

— with NZ Herald, AAP