Christian Brothers offered pedophile brethren a second chance

A Christian Brother Provincial leader gave pedophiles a ‘jolly good talking to’ and a second chance.

A provincial leader of the Christian Brothers gave pedophile brothers a second chance to stay in the order, if there were repentant and submitted to a “jolly good talking to”, documents tendered to the abuse royal commission ­reveal.

Brother James Athanasius McGlade told officers from Catholic Church Insurance in a 2004 interview that he viewed brothers subject to a complaint as deserving of a second chance if they had some “knowledge” of their ­offence and were repentant. He said he also admonished them to a certain degree and expressed the hope it wouldn’t happen again.

“First complaint, a brother would be given a second chance after a jolly good talking to,” the insurance officer said. “If there was a second complaint, then generally he was out of the order.”

Brother McGlade agreed and said he was always hopeful that a brother who abused children would repent and have the opportunity of atoning readily for his first “failure”.

“I want to emphasise that it did happen in a number of cases and men who are still, some of them, wonderful men and who have been a credit really to the Christian Brothers,” he said. “They failed once and they didn’t fail again.”

The documents reveal one of the cases he dealt with was that of GLX, who told CCI officers he informed Brother McGlade in 1970 that he was seriously attracted to children and asked if he could be given non-school work.

“He says you consoled him and said he should keep up his prayers and everything would be all right,” a CCI officer told Brother McGlade in their interview.

Brother McGlade had said he could not recall the conversation but admitted it would be his conduct if a brother wanted to discuss his situation and there was no complaint being made about him.

Brother McGlade served as a provincial of St Mary’s Province, which included NSW and the ACT, from 1956 to 1978.

In a statement tendered to the royal commission, he said he remembered dealing with six complaints in relation to different brothers.

Documents tendered to the commission also reveal the Christian Brothers were refused indemnity for claims against several brothers because of prior knowledge of abuse allegations.

Brother McGlade died in 2013..