This week the North American branch of the Christian Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection in the face of ever mounting sexual abuse claims made against its U.S. and Canadian members.
The order runs schools around the world (and are well known in Ireland, where they have also faced widespread physical and sexual abuse charges).
The bankruptcy filing was made in New York where the brothers' North American chapter is headquartered, but it's understood the majority of the abuse claims come from the Seattle, Washington area according to Michael Patterson, a lawyer for the Catholic Archdiocese in Seattle.
"It's a sad day. We're very disappointed that it reached this level," Patterson told the Irish Times.
"We had hoped that we could have partnered with the Christian Brothers to settle claims. What this means is that victims now have to deal with this out of bankruptcy court." Patterson added that he did not know the extent of the claims.
However lawyers for the plaintiffs said Christian Brothers sexually abused scores of children in the United States and Canada.
Seattle based attorney Michael Pfau told the Irish Times he has settled more than 50 abuse cases for a total of $25.6 million, which was paid to the victims in the last five years by the order and by the Seattle Archdiocese.
Around 35 of those cases reportedly originated in the now closed Briscoe Memorial School, an orphanage and boarding school run by both the archdiocese and Christian Brothers in Kent, Washington.
"There were rapes, molestations and beatings. The brothers carried long leather straps. It was a very abusive place," Pfau said.
Other lawsuits still pending involve allegations of sexual abuse at schools and orphanages that the Brothers owned and operated in Washington state and Canada, Pfau said, adding that he believed the order had filed for bankruptcy in a bid to shield its assets in Rome.
"They made money taking over the care of children but put many of their members who were known abusers in charge of them," Pfau said. "Then they tried to cover it up. This bankruptcy filing is just another effort for them to avoid responsibility."
Last year, the Irish branch of the Christian Brothers was strongly criticized by the Irish government for the widespread physical and sexual abuse of children in schools and other institutions run by the order.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.Searlit | May 02, 2011, 08:53 PM EDT
Yes, jacersagain. That is a harsh way of thinking about abuse victims. The truth is that most abusers were abused as children. However, most people who have been abused, don't go on to abuse others. I forgive you jacersagain. Abuse is a frightening issue for people who haven't been abused. Just imagine how frightened an abused child must have been. The only way I know how to ease the heartbreak I feel about these crimes is to express compassion to anyone who has the courage to tell someone. You must know by reading my posts that I will be on the side of the survivors. (I hate to call anyone a victim). If you are victimized, by a criminal, you are the injured person. You don't need to be labeled. Leave that for the courtroom. I wonder what mlawless thinks.
jacersagain | May 02, 2011, 01:43 PM EDT
Ok, sorry - that post of mine for Searlit was a bit harsh. I trust in Jesus that mlawless doesn't take the abuse suffered out on someone else.
jacersagain | May 02, 2011, 01:38 PM EDT
Yep, Searlit, mlawless is a survivor. And possibly a present-day abuser. Abuse begets abuse. Wanna think again about where your respect should be directed to?
Searlit | May 02, 2011, 01:00 PM EDT
@mlawless, how strong you must have to be to survive something so cruel. I have such respect for you.
KateyMc | May 02, 2011, 10:33 AM EDT
I suppose "Blessed John Paul" knew nothing about this.......What a joke!
letgoletpeace | May 02, 2011, 10:12 AM EDT
The Let Go...Let Peace Come In Foundation is a nonprofit with a mission to help heal and support adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse worldwide. We are actively seeking adult survivors who would be willing to post a childhood photo and caption, their story, or their creative expressions to our website letgoletpeacecomein.org. By uniting survivors from across the globe we can help provide a stronger and more powerful voice to those survivors who have not yet found the courage to speak out. Together we can; together we should; together we NEED to stand up and be counted. Please visit our site for more details on how you can send us your submissions, read user submitted articles, find professionals and some daily mediations. Remember, you are never not alone!
Collette2 | May 01, 2011, 09:58 PM EDT
Intercessor, light a candle for him for me.
Collette2 | May 01, 2011, 09:56 PM EDT
Intercessor, light a candle for him for me.
Collette2 | May 01, 2011, 09:54 PM EDT
Nicomax, from what I can gather, the inheritance issue remains, for clergy who have acknowledged their child/children legally at civil law,are not accepted by church law, their illegitimacy status by the way, regarded as a "defect of birth".
CaptainCon | May 01, 2011, 06:24 PM EDT
Lawyers for abuse survivors should look very carefully into whether the CB have transferred assets to another trust or other trusts as they have carried out such a maneouver in Ireland, ostensibly transferring 'schools' to the new Edmund Rice Trust. As far as I know what assets have been transferred do not appear to have been tracked by Irish authorities who still have church creeps covering for these organisations inside the civil service system Another example of this is the transfer by the Sisters of Mercy of ownership of two Dublin hospitals and land and property assets to a new Limited Company- a Limited Company which unusually has been granted special permission to drop the 'Ltd' from the company name. The controlling shareholders are the Sisters of Mercy. I'd advise anyone connected with the CB case in the states to check whether that organisation has been quietly transferring assets before filing for Chapter 11 for the CB entity. Watch particularly for the rebranding to 'Edmund Rice' Trusts.
PiperMac52 | May 01, 2011, 03:18 PM EDT
Very sad.I was taught by Christian brothers all through High school(secondary), as was my dad and uncles before me. I have nothing but the utmost repsect for their dedication and the values that they instilled. I don't know of one case of abuse and I know hundreds of peopel who were taught by the good brothers.
SingleDonald | May 01, 2011, 02:55 PM EDT
Great comments! I didn't go to Catholic High School, though I was accepted to McClancey H.S., in Queens, N.Y. The stories I have heard all concerned beatings, not sexual abuse. Sadly, if a boy threw one punch at a brother (or a girl struck a sister), the boy or girl defending themselves would be expelled! I heard stories of those a decade older than me that went like this. "You didn't dare go home and tell your father that the brother hit you. You may then have faced further abuse from him!" To me, that is the 4th Commandment, in bad need of reinterpretation! Sorry, Yaweh of the Old Testament. Your commendments all have gray areas; nothing is written in stone, despite what was depicted in the movie, "The 10 Commandments"! You may have burned them in the stone of the tablets You gave to Moses, but there will always be mitigating factors. The same applies to Jesus, concerning Matthew:5-28. I recall a movie, set in the 1970's, at a Catholic High School. During a school dance, one brother cautioned the boys & girls to, "Leave some room for Jesus"! Now, if the Lord must get between a boy/man and girl/woman dancing, I feel that He should see an earthly shrink!!
Nicomax | May 01, 2011, 12:57 PM EDT
The Catholic Church has almost come full circle. In the 12th century they outlawed married priests fearing church property would be passed onto their offspring upon their death, but now the church is selling off property at such a rapid rate, the inheritance issue no longer applies.
jamthecat | May 01, 2011, 12:54 PM EDT
Hmph, need any further proof that the Catholic Church is just another business out to protect itself from its own misdoings by using the law instead of adhering to it?
Intercessor | May 01, 2011, 12:18 PM EDT
If any group of men should be required to answer for their actions in World Court and pay restitution to ALL victims and survivors, the Christian Brothers should be at the top of the list as International Perpetrators of Physical Abuse, Rape and Sodomy! Regardless of where the Christian Brothers operated, in Ireland, Canada, the States, Australia, New Zealand, etc............, the same stories of Systemic Abuse are uncovered. Bankruptcy is too easy! Hopefully, the courts in every nation will wake up and make them sell ALL of their assets. Let them all move to Rome and let the Vatican take care of them!
Intercessor | May 01, 2011, 12:11 PM EDT
It continues to make one wonder where the "Holy" went in "Holy, Roman, Catholic Church," or if it was ever there. One of my dearest Irish-American friends just passed away at 64. Before he passed away he told me how he was physically abuse by the sadist practices of the Christian Brothers in Manhattan. Something that those outside of the States don't realize is that Manhattan is not only a very upscale, trend-setting city, but the residents are some of the most highly educated in the States. One wouldn't think that the children and teens in this community wouldn't be able to speak out concerning physical abuse and rape, but the simple fact that they couldn't clearly shows how the Church, particularly the Christian Brothers, held them in complete fear and terror of the repercussions of speaking up. My friend told me that most parents, whose generation was totally indoctrinated by the Church, wouldn't have believed their stories of abuse, anyway! Fortunately, or I should say, hopefully, our generation should be smarter and our kids should be warned and believed, when they are brave enough to come forward with allegations of the UnChristian acts of physical abuse, rape, molestation or sodomy, perpetrated by any member of the Clergy.
mlawless | May 01, 2011, 11:58 AM EDT
How fervent they were in search of their own lustful satisfaction. They did so with religious zeal, but only mwhen they were not beating their charges. I am a former victim and survivor.
JimMcGarity | May 01, 2011, 11:00 AM EDT
I can't understand why a man would want to be with any kid. Take my aera, been three police officers arested for being with teens. Now I guess the towns and police unions will have to pay.
Gearoid4 | May 01, 2011, 12:45 AM EDT
Discipline was very tough in the schools of yesteryear. The schools and reformatries run by such orders as the Christian brothers were no exception. As seen in numerous cases in Ireland,US, Australia and other nations the treatment meted out was often at times not very christian or brotherly. This is specially true when it came to sadistic physical punishment or sexual abuse. There is no doubt that the Christian brothers for the most part did impart a valuable education to the working-class kids in their care and most of them selflessly pursued this objective. But in saying that, we cannot ignore the damaging revelations and the present day Church authorities must do all in their power to follow up these terrible cases through providing healing of mind, body and soul as well as financial restitution to the victims.
Collette2 | Apr 30, 2011, 05:52 PM EDT
It seems the way to go these day's by the church, just like corporate companies. Filing for bankrupcy on a temporal level will never remove the spiritual one, a legacy passed on through all eternity.
manhattan | Apr 30, 2011, 04:20 PM EDT
OK seamusmoore, I guess the 9 year old who had his hands put out on the snow laden windowsill until his hands were frozen enough to be beaten with a ruler , meant that CHRISTIAN brother was only trying to make a man of him huh? I'm talking about sadistic people who could bring such cruelty to a child. They were sick and the system sicker.
seamusmoore | Apr 30, 2011, 03:33 PM EDT
@manhattan The jails of the US are not filled with those who suffered from too much discipline at an early age but rather the exact opposite. To quote Ray Liotta's character Henry Hill in Goodfellas: At the age of 11, I learned an important lesson, everyone has to take a beating once in a while. Shortly before his death, Knute Rockne (also the Athletic Director at Notre Dame as well as Head Football Coach) sent a letter to Dominic "Nappy" Napolitano, Director of Intermural Athletics, congratulating him on the staging of the first Bengal Bouts (intramural boxing)tournament in March, 1931. Rockne's letter contained the immortal words that "boxing is the only known cure for effeminate masculinity". Think maybe that line would bring howls for his resignation in what is rapidly becoming, unfortunately, "tampon nation."
aloistmartin | Apr 30, 2011, 01:53 PM EDT
Burning these Bonfires Is just a Cheap Modernist Way of getting out of Confession
manhattan | Apr 30, 2011, 01:38 PM EDT
Thank you fatherbob, I didn't remember that they were the De la Salle Brothers. Sadly you only remember the bad ones and good Brothers,Priest and Nuns get painted with the same brush.
fatherbob | Apr 30, 2011, 12:29 PM EDT
Hello Manhattan: You may have uncovered another whole set of abusers. The Good Shepherd brothers were not the "Irish" Christian Brothers who are the subject of the bankruptcy. The "Inwood" brothers were the Brothers of the Christian Schools or they are known as the La Sallian Brothers or the De la Salle Christian Brothers.
manhattan | Apr 30, 2011, 11:44 AM EDT
It is to late for the boys that were beaten and humiliated by the Christian Brothers at Good Shepherd Grammar school in the Inwood section of Manhattan in the1940's and 50's. I'm sure those sadists are dead now and can't be punished. They picked on the most easiest boys that were not smart,poor or had a troubled home life. Today every one is concerned with bullying but those poor boys had a teacher do it every day. Those beatings were just as damaging as sexual abuse.