markp Diary

♦ The process of making my compensation claim - Mark Prytz - Making a Claim page



Coming up is the new National Survivors’ Day, which is a good thing.

In Good Faith Foundation (IGFF) and LOUD Fence Inc. have committed to the creation and establishment of A National Day of Recognition for those impacted by Sexual Assault and Institutional Abuse.
The Day will serve to commemorate the courage and journeys of Survivors of sexual abuse, their Supporters, and Whistle-blowers across Australia.

They say get involved by:
1. Wearing Multi-Coloured Ribbons.
2. Tying Ribbons We suggest decorating your letterbox, front fence, veranda, workplace, or other places of prominence on your private property with multi-coloured ribbons.
3. Making the Pledge.


The get involved suggestions above say nothing about Loud Fences.
An inquiry to Loud Fence got the response that there will be no activity involving established Loud Fences or any new ones, because of lack of time and resources.
But they are happy if people do it.





Normalising and Wilful Ignorance
The very poor and bad behaviour by the catholic church in general and by the Australian Jesuits
has become so entrenched it has now become a new normal.

What I notice from people who have no interest in religion is when they hear or see a new report
they are not at all surprised and dismiss it with a few words like "typical", "arseholes" etc.

It has become accepted that that is what they do and to not expect anything else.
Behaviours like getting a permanent stay on a compensation claim using the "he's dead and can't defend himself" and exfluxion of time argument, and fighting claims tooth and nail.
Like in the USA bishops trying to stop the claims "window" for historical abuse.
Like Xavier College and the Society of Jesus basically lying about caring and being transparent and believing survivors and "owning the past"
When everything they do is to hose it down and keep things secret.

This behaviour is now normal it doesn't raise the ire of the general public anymore.

So you would have to say that the Jesuit's containment strategy has been a success.

Since Quyen Vu SJ became Provincial he not said one thing about sex abuse publicly.
Xavier Principal, Bill Doherty, and the Xavier Board have also adopted the no comment stonewalling.
No comment about Eldon Hogan, no comment about removing Loud Fences, no comment about questions surrounding the the In Good Faith Foundation charter, no comment about using police, no comment about Lawrence Leonard SJ facing indecent assault charges (Leonard worked at Xavier), no comment, no comment, no comment..........

Then we have the wilful ignorance of those who are part of the Jesuit and Xavier College "community".
Historical sex abuse is not something they think about or have an opinion about except perhaps to mumble "it twas terrible thank god its over".
They are deliberately ignoring how their leaders are treating survivors today, now, this very day.

These thoughts partly arise from seeing a photo of The Jesuit and Ignatian Spirituality Australia (JISA) team from across Australia and New Zealand came together for the first time in Sydney in early June.

These are very decent god-fearing seekers of spiritual health.
We shared “in a deeply personal way the mission entrusted to Christ by the Father…loving the world back to life”
The photo is at Canisius House, Pymble, Sydney where I once went to talk to Peter Beer SJ but he was tipped off to my presence and he ran away in a hurry.

Should these givers of spritual retreats also be concerned about how the Society of Jesus treats abuse survivors?


This is the main reason there are not righteous people willing to express their views.
The hold the religion has on them and their deep investment in what it gives to them makes it hard to dissent because they know they will lose all that.




The Age news story is out today about Eldon Hogan mainly and his name on the arts centre and a civil suit by "Brian" naming Hogan and P.J. Stephenson SJ.
It is some vindication for David Kelly who,all those years ago (2008-2011), expressed his moral concern about the school, the name and the money.
Principal, Bill Doherty and the Board have refused to comment because there is no defence or excuse.
Any reasonable person would say at least that its inappropriate or worse.

The question now is how will they manage the publicity and try to spin it.
I think Doherty will have to call a school assembly on Monday morning after spending today thinking about what he's going to say.
And ,of course, he will be making a lot of phone calls with Tony Nunan, Peter Walsh, Quyen Vu and others.

One thing they can't say is "its all news to me", they have known since March 2020 when I informed them and they ignored it.
Will they try the old "they are only unproven allegations" spin?
One very telling thing in my conversation with Bill Doherty at the Charles St. gate on March 03, 2020,
was when I asked him if a survivor of abuse by Eldon Hogan told Doherty his story in person, would he (Doherty) believe the survivor?
Bill avoided the question and would not answer it.

The prediction is that they will have to remove Eldons Hogan's name from the arts centre and from student prizes etc.
And use some sort of nonsense spin like they did with Stephenson.
But this is a trickier one than Stephenson because they don't want to cut off the flow of money from Peter Walsh.

There is actually more at stake, I think they would happily throw Hogan under the bus as long as they don't cut off the money supply.
Hogan himself is not an important part of the Xavier history he can be easily cancelled without offending Old Xaverians or parents.

If they say they won't accept any more money from Hogan's trust that means they have found a way to funnel it through another source like the Xavier Foundation.
So they will have to convince Peter Walsh to take one for the team and his good ol' mate Eldon Hogan's name now can't be used.




Some feedback yesterday (a phone call) from a relative of Patrick O'Sullivan SJ about the report on his requiem mass.
She objected to the word "gaggle" describing the group jesuit priests, saying it was disrespectful.
Which I suppose it is but I have no reason to give them any respect.

She also asked to me amend some text where I did not use the word "alleged" when referring to O'Sullivan's "alleged" behaviour.
(I am unable to find what she is referring to).
And asked me to add "alleged" to the menu tab "Jesuit Sex Offenders".

She warned me that what I say on the website might get me into legal trouble.
She said she was meeting with the Provincial Quyen Vu SJ this week but did not say about what.


She said it was unfair that O'Sullivan could not defend himself.
She said that Noreen wood was mentally unstable, suggesting that Wood had made a false allegation.

Notwithstanding that the allegation has been in the public sphere since 2010 and O'Sullivan never took the opportunity to defend himself.
And a requested meeting between Noreen Wood and O'Sullivan was denied.

She also said she had spoken with O'Sullivan about the allegation and he had denied it.
She also stressed that the allegation was not proven in court, I said that this is the Society of Jesus denial strategy, where they hide behind the law and everything is a deniable allegation if the alleged offender is not convicted.

Yet again we are stuck in the "he says / she says" dilemma, who do you believe? That is why so few of allegations like this actually get to court (The George Pell case being an exception). If Noreen Wood had reported O'Sullivan to the police I am 99% sure they would never have charged him.
My own allegation against a living Jesuit priest, Fr. Peter Beer SJ, was considered unlikely to get a conviction and Beer was never charged.

Who do you believe?
There is no definitive data on the percentage of false sex abuse reports.
Some say its in the range of 2-10% for all types of sex abuse reports.
Hstorical reports are a different thing I think with different parameters.

Former Provincial, Brian McCoy SJ, said "we believe the survivors", which they don't, or they do and they don't.
There is no definitive answer to the question, so what one believes is a mix of bias, prejudice, existing beliefs, loyalties etc., a decision based on emotion not on the balance of probabilities.



Been a while. Quite a lot has happened.
Yesterday was the first day of Lawrence Leonard SJ's trial for indecent assault at Riverviw in 1970's, in Sydney.

Riverview Principal, Paul Hine, sent a letter to the community about it.
I emailed to him about some things he said.
How exactly do you "openly and fully acknowledge" the history?
How exactly do you "support victims and survivors of abuse" ?
And some other comments.
I have not received a reply.

I went to the Maytime Fair (May 7, 2022) and set up my table, chair and sign without permission from the gods and was ejected by the police.
After that I emailed Shane Healy,Director of something at Xavier College, asking if he agreed with this way of handling an unhappy survivor.
He has not replied.

My lawyers finally lodged our Statement of Claim with the Supreme Court of Victoria, naming two alleged offenders at Xavier College.
The Jesuit's lawyers (Tony Hargreaves and Partners) submitted their defence, which was interesting in that it read like it was 1999.

All the old defences were stated, except for the Ellis defence of not existing,
the allleged offenders were not employees of Xavier College,
there is no vicarious liability.
in recent years these defences have largely been not accepted by the courts.

"(a) Father "A" and Father "B" were not employed by the Defendant at the relevant times;
(b) At the relevant times, Father "A" and Father "B" were priests in the society of Jesus and fulfilling their priestly duties when working at Xavier;
(c) Even if Father "A" and Father "B" were employees of the Defendant (which is denied), it would not be vicariously liable for their alleged conduct (which conduct is not admitted)."

"36.In response to paragraph 36 it:
(a) denies any breach of duty;
(b) denies that it is vicariously liable in respect of the intentional acts which are alleged (and which acts are not admitted);
(c) says that the Plaintiff has suffered other injuries, including to his back/neck, and heart problems, which are relevant to his claimed impairment;
(d) otherwise does not admit the allegations in paragraph 36."

(c) is the one where they try to blame other things for the claimed impairment.

37.It says further that the Defendant is entitled to a permanent stay of the proceeding on the basis that the proceeding is an abuse of process, as the proceeding is manifestly unfair to the Defendant in view of the delay of approximately 50 years since the alleged acts of abuse."
And why not ask the court to throw the thing out.

Its the law, its a game they play, but it still makes me feel disgusted with the Society of Jesus, these men of god, "men for others" saying they don't believe a word of our claim and will fight it to the bitter end.
They are saying to me "you are lying".
Everything the Society of Jesus and Xavier College have ever said about believing survivors and the apologies and that they care rings so hollow when you read this defense.

You don't have to play the game this way.
They will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on the lawyers.
All in the name of protecting their reputation and limiting the compensation they might have to pay.

The deal between Xavier College and the In Good Faith Foundation is becoming more and more suspect.
My initial reaction that the IGFF would be compromised with conflicts of interest is coming real it seems.
They and Xavier College are talking about setting up some sort of committee to liase things. Its only talk, nothing has happened.

Now IGFF and Xavier College seem to think that there is some sort of conspiracy between myself and a former IGFF client to do them harm.
This is an outcome of the Maytime Fair action I did and the other man wanted to do something but didn't.

Why would you start to become paranoid?


Next Saturday a few of us will again put up some ribbons on the Xavier College Barkers Road fence.
Its International Loud Fence Day, so its good to be a part of a statement of support of the survivors of sex abuse.
Xavier College could also show its support by leaving the ribbons in place, rather than tear them down as they have done twice already.

Xavier Principal, Bill Doherty, promised the first Loud Fence would remain in place but it was removed after a few days. We were told it was a storm that ripped off the ribbons.
The second set of ribbons lasted less than a day, we were told they were removed because they posed a risk to the public.
Their actions simply say that they are unwilling to accept the shame of the criminal past being exposed publicly.

What the Society of Jesus doesn't like about a Loud Fence is that it is a publicly visible statement that this school is a site of child sex abuse in the past.
Who actually gives the order to take down a Loud Fence is hard to know because of the Xavier College power structure.

Mr. Doherty does not have final authority over many things (everything really) at the school. The Xavier College constitution gives the Jesuit Provincial final authority over the school, and his representative at the school, the Rector Fr. Chris Middleton SJ, also wields a lot of power in general matters.
This is obvious in Mr. Doherty's original promise being over-ridden by the powers above him.

It is worth noting that the Society of Jesus and Xavier College and the other Jesuit schools have carefully managed their responses to the horrific history.
All statements are scripted and published as video or text.
Mr. Doherty and former Provincial, Brian McCoy SJ, have always refused to be interviewed on camera or have conversations recorded.

Former provincial Mark Raper SJ was the last and only one to face the media in an ABC 7:30 report on July 1, 2003. He "vowed to put people ahead of assets in dealing with complaints about sexual abuse." ♦ catholicleader.com.au

Most politicians and business leaders see it as a responsiblity to face the public via media interviews.
The Society of Jesus and Xavier College refuse to do this as part of their information and narrative management strategy.

As recipients of very large amounts of public money into their charities (more than 50), they should be "open, accountable and transparent" as the ACNC says.
Former Provincial Brian McCoy SJ promised to be open and transparent then shut down access to all archives.
Current provincial Fr. Quyen Vu SJ officially discredited this website and ceased all communication.

So the truth that they know remains secret, even criminal behaviour. If I say that former Head of School, Brendan Ellis, failed to report three sex abuse reports to the proper authority in 1997, for which there is strong evidence, nothing will happen.
The police aren't interested and the Society of Jesus will not give a response.

It is an ongoing cover-up and it is re-abusing the survivors.




The roadblock to justice for thousands of victims of sexual assault
is a combination of the courts being too busy,
the court case histories,
and the police/OPP assessment of the likelihood of a conviction.

The last point means, in effect, that the police/OPP are the judge and jury.
Most often this when its a one against one "he says - she says" complaint.
The police say they believe the victim.
The victim should have the right to get the alleged offender in court,
no matter what the assessment of success or failure, to test his/her allegations in the justice system.

And not have it decided by an anonymous government employee.


There was the Loud Fence again on May 01, 2021.
This time with 6 helpers and the ribbons were tied onto the fence instead of attached to a rope.
It was very successful as an installation, a lot of ribbons looking very bright in the sunshine, fluttering in the breeze and highly visible to traffic on Barkers Rd.

I knew the provocative signs would not last long but the big sign being ripped down about an hour after we left could be a world record.
I like signs. Ribbons are great but they are a very polite and not all that challenging.
Jesuit HQ deserves a bit of exposure as well.
Kinda funny how they hide themselves behind a humble front in the suburb of Hawthorn.
There is not one sign or any indication that this is the centre of a very large and wealthy religious order.
Power St. is a very busy street and a sign there would get good exposure to the public.

The other thing is that the sign will have to be on the nature strip or against the fence but not in Jesuit property.
So it would breaking some council bylaw but the Society of Jesus would have no right to remove it.
Put up on a saturday when the Council does not work until monday, then there is council response time etc. so it might last a few more days.
The same priciple will have to apply to the next Xavier College / Barkers Rd. sign.

Sent email to Fr. Arturo Sosa, the big cheese at the Jesuit Curia, Rome, asking if he knew his local boy, Fr. Quyen Vu, had cancelled me.
Told him the local lads are doing everything they can to prevent knowledge and information be found and made public.
May 9, 2021 - of course there has been no reply.

Over 3 years now doing ths website and was thinking back about how it has developed.
The primary intention was to make the truth public.
What has happened over time is that the information discovered or received has been the actual driver of where the website goes.
I get some information and follow up on it, then that leads to something else and soon you can have spider's web of connections.
So, the end result is not intentional.
Over time too, mostly as a result of amateur activism, it has become more and more personal.
I have made enemies and others like the Society of Jesus would love to shut the site down.
But as I said to one catholic church employee, if they'd tell the truth it would all be over in 5 minutes.


Making a police statement
I was informed by the police today that they will not be charging Fr. Peter Beer SJ with any offences arising from the police statement I made about two and half years ago.
Fr. Peter Beer SJ 1969.
♦ Peter Beer s.j. biography

This is very often the outcome when you have a "he says - she says" situation. The police officer emphasised that it didn't mean they didn't beieve my statement, the decision is based on the likelihood of a conviction.

Fr. Peter Beer SJ is a liar and lied easily and quickly when asked about things I know to be true. (please sue me Fr. Beer, I'd like that tested in court).

Especially after the George Pell saga the unsatisfactory situation of victims being reluctant to report to the police, not only because its very difficult and traumatic, but because the likelihood of the alleged offender being charged is small, and the likelihood of a conviction even smaller.

If there are no witnesses to an alleged crime its highly likely the alleged offender will get away with it.
Around 85% of sexual assaults are not reported to police.
Around 10% of reports result in the alleged offender being charged, then around 10% of those result in a conviction. A 1% conviction rate.


Articles:
♦ Keely has helped thousands of sexual assault survivors, but only knows two who've seen their abuser jailed - www.abc.net.au
♦ Sex Assault Reporting And Conviction Rates

I guess I could go back to Canisius House and talk to him.


Any survivvor of sexual assault will tell you how difficult it is to report to the police and/or make a compensation claim.
Talking to a friend on the phone the other day about how it feels when you are starting to go public
I described it as this image i put together from WW1 trench warfare photos.

It as though your commander told you to stand up on the trench top without a weapon, stand there arms raised and see what happens.
Completely vulnerable and powerless at the mercy of the enemy.





Speaking on the phone to Fr. Peter Beer SJ I told him of three things sex abuse related things he did I knew to be 100% true.
He said "I would never do such a thing".
He did not actually say "I did not do it".

George Pell in the Rome police interview said "completely false",
" need i say anymore, what a load of garbage and falsehood and deranged falsehood".
He did not actually say "I did not do it".


Attorney General Christian Porter said "I'm simply saying to you all, that I did— it just did not happen."
He did not actually say "I did not do it".
That sounds like he was about to say "I did not do it" then found that he was unable to say it.

(this is not to suggest he is guilty, it is to show how language can be revealing).

My hypothesis is that people who have some semblance of a conscience still functioning
use this language method of "distancing" the subject matter from themselves.
Using the words "I did not do it" causes too much internal conflict
and forces the person to remember the offence very personally with all the associated guilt and shame.
Instead of thinking about an actual event they are thinking of an allegation, a statement of words.

And today Josh Frydenberg on radio said it is only a police matter,
that is the proper way to handle the allegation.
An independant inquiry is not appropriate (same as Christian Porter's stance yesterday).
This seems to be the governmant's agreed damage control position.
Very similar to the Society of Jesus.


And its getting worse.
Utterly apalling obfuscation and bullshit from our Prime Minister.
Prime Minister Morrison is repeating the spin.
The "rule of law" he says.
He says the police have decided not to proceed , insinuating that there is not enough evidence, when the truth is the police can't proceed because the woman is deceased and she hadn't made a signed police statement or affadavit.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison dismissed calls for an inquiry into the allegation this morning, saying it would imply "the rule of law and our police are not competent to deal with these issues".
"This is not the mob process," he said.
"There is not the 'tribe-has-spoken' process.
"That's not how we run the rule of law in Australia."
Both Mr Morrison and senior Cabinet members Josh Frydenberg and Peter Dutton have voiced their support for Mr Porter.

The excuse Professor Stephen Smallbone used about naming credibly accused offenders "its a denial of natural justice".
And the Jesuit conclusion that if they are not convicted they are innocent.

What Morrison, Porter et al. are saying, without saying it, is that the woman made it all up.
An unfounded allegation the Society of Jesus would describe it.
Any responsible public company would, without hesitation, investigate a serious crime allegation against an employee, because they are answerable to the shareholders.
The Society of Jesus is not answerable to anyone, the government is, in theory, answerable at a general election.

The same reasons are at play:
To protect the accused person and protect the institution and make it all go away.
This is why the the Society of Jesus does not have a complaints handling policy.
A complaints handling policy normally includes how to investigate a complaint (see the new catholic church National Response Protocol).

Senior lawyer and director for the Centre for Public Integrity, Geoffrey Watson SC,
described Mr Morrison's dismissal of a further inquiry based on such grounds as "nonsense".
♦ www.sbs.com.au


Institutions cannot properly investigate themselves
This is a known and proven fact.
March 7, 2021.
Independent body to handle complaints in Australian Parliament may be needed in wake of rape allegations
The Sex Discrimination Commissioner believes an independent complaints handling body may be needed to deal with staffing concerns in Parliament House.
Key points:
• Kate Jenkins says unique circumstances to Parliament House must be investigated in her inquiry
• She said she could not foreshadow recommendations, but an independent body to handle complaints could be one
• The inquiry follows several allegations of sexual assaults in Parliament, most recently by Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins

Kate Jenkins has been asked to lead an independent inquiry into the culture on Capital Hill, in the wake of an allegation by a former Liberal staffer that she was raped by a colleague in a ministerial office.
Brittany Higgins's complaint, and her insistence that she was not given adequate support by colleagues and then-boss, Defence minister Linda Reynolds, has started a serious conversation about behaviour and standards in the corridors of power.

Commissioner Jenkins said there were several issues unique to Parliament House that needed to be investigated as part of her probe.
"One of them is that layer of employment arrangements, because it is so unusual who has the power to hire and fire," she told the ABC's Insiders program on Sunday.

"All of that is slightly different to the average community, so I think that's relevant."
Political staff are employed directly by the elected representative they work for, prompting suggestions party loyalty is regularly considered more important than due process.

♦ more..... www.abc.net.au

♦ Why Christian Porter and Scott Morrison are utterly wrong about the ‘rule of law’ - thenewdaily.com.au

♦ No, prime minister, sexual assault allegations are not only a matter for the police www.theguardian.com

♦ MinterEllison confirms chief executive's departure a week after sending email on Christian Porter - www.theguardian.com

♦ I was raped as a teenager. Here is why I didn’t consider going to the police - theguardian.com

♦ Friend of Christian Porter's accuser says he has 'clear recollections' of 'relevant discussions' with Porter - theguardian.com

March 8, 2021.
Amanda Vanstone comes out repeating the Morrison/Porter "rule of law" argument.
Amanda is a great supporter of George Pell and provided a character reference for him.
she says.
Which is completely wrong. Which is also completely wrong.
There are copius amounts of statements directly from the woman to the police and to a therapist.
That is not rumour or hearsay.
There is no case for the police/OPP to pursue only because there is no signed statement.
A demonstrably wrong opinion like this should not be published by The Age or the SMH.
♦Search for justice can’t undermine judicial system - www.smh.com.au


Government will not change its mind on inquiry
Minister for Women Marise Payne reiterated the Prime Minister's stance that the government would not begin an independent inquiry to look into the allegation. "And it would be unprecedented if we moved to establish an inquiry of this nature based on an allegation. Everything is an allegation until proven true or false.
What a betrayal of women by the Minister for Women.
♦ www.abc.net.au

What they are trying to sell to the public is that anyone can make up a story and ruin a person's life.
Therefore its not fair and it destroys our legal system.
So, how many times has that happened?
Morrison et al. are orchestrating a deliberately misleading "rule of law" public offensive.

In the same article above The NSW Police Commissioner says a historical rape allegation against Attorney-General Christian Porter "probably" would not have made it to court even if the alleged victim was still alive.
Why the hell not?
When that happens they are saying they don't believe the complainant.
Or because its the Attorney General?

After years of listening to similar Jesuit bullshit, this makes me want to throw up.

† Andrew Hamilton SJ wrote an article on Eureka Street "Making space for conversation"     ♦ www.eurekastreet.com.au
waffling on about human dignity and the problems divergant views.
As a test I added a comment about Fr. Vu ceasing all communication person of divergant views (myself).
Eureka Street chose not to publish the comment.

† Remarkable similarities in Prime Minister Morrison's "handling" of the rape allegation against a current Cabinet Minister.
"it’s ludicrous that a cone of silence should descend on these wretched details." Richard Ackland, The Guardian.
Just like the Jesuits, the man has to be presumed innocent and all details have been given to the police and its inappropriate for any further comment or action because it might hinder the police investigation.
A kneejerk attempt at damage control.

The Society of Jesus runs aound trying to put out spot fires.
Ignoring the smoke on the horizon indicating a very big problem bearing down on them.
This arises from their own delusions that "there is nothing wrong with us, what's wrong with you".

† Dropped into the Jesuit HQ to speak to Fr. Quyen Vo, the Provincial, was told he wasn't there.
Simon Davies (Director of Counter Terrorism) came out and answered questions by saying refer to the dis-engagement letter they sent me.
Left them a few ribbons at the entrance.

† Lost my wallet at the Swan St. Richmond Red Cross thrift store. Damnnnn idiot!!!!

† "engaged" with Bill Doherty and Shane Healy after the OXA meeting.
A pretty good wide ranging talk with some agreement and quite a lot of disagreement, but all in a good humour.
Bill would like me to calm down a bit and come into the fold and be more co-operative.
I replied that I don't trust anyone.
But of course any reasonable person would if they could see a possibility of real genuine constructive progress.
The problem is sticking points arise so easily.

When I asked Bill if a survivor came to him and told his harrowing story personally, would Bill believe him?
Bill could not give an unqualified yes to the question.
Like the Society of Jesus, still dancing, ducking and weaving when it comes to actually admitting sex abusers were sex abusers.

Everything should be on the table. "difficult" issues should not be put aside.

† After leaving a message wanting to know about the National Response Protocol
♦ about the National Response Protocol
I got a call from a CPSL (now known as Australian Catholic Safeguarding Ltd (ACSL). ) person
who was upset about me using his name and not quoting him accurately he said.
He also complained that I did not tell him I ran a website.

From the conversation I gathered that he had been dragged over the coals by his superiors
for talking to me on the phone previously and saying things.
What has happened here is that the catholic church's information control/media management has been circumvented and they are not happy about it.

I'm not going to name him again because he'd probably get in more hot water and he seems
like a decent fellow trying to do his best.
But, sorry to say, he's just another puppet echoing his master's voice.

What I did say about what he said was terribly innocuous,
so it makes think that behind the scenes the catholic church is as paranoid about
controlling the message as the Society of Jesus.

So, I sent him an email saying sorry and asking for his corrections on what I said.
I also included my questions about the National Response Protocol.

† Believe it or not the Old Xaverians Association website does not say who the President is.
So i emailed Matt Cosgrave, President of the Old Xaverians Football Club, after saying it wasn't him, i emailed back asking who was and said how Davina Calhaem had been told not to talk to me.
He has not replied. This grants him membership of the Sounds of Silence group.

† Strategy note: It is important to name names.
e.g. Today Feb. 18, 2021. I phoned Xavier College today to ask for the OXA President's contact details.
Jenny answered the phone and put me through to Helen Barry (senior school Communications), she wasn't there, I left a message to call me. No call yet.


Stuff going on
† Provincial Fr. Quyen Vu has broken off our engagement.
I'll have to return the wedding dress and sell the ring.


† It seems Xavier College Principal William Doherty has also been told to dis-engage me.
update 23 Feb. 2021. Mr. Doherty and Davina Calhaem both said they have not been told to not talk to me.

† Xavier College Principal William Doherty and Simon Davies are not responding to privacy queries. A formal complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner will have to made.
update 23 Feb. 2021. Mr. Doherty said he is preparing a response.

† Seeking information on monetary compensation in the new catholic church National Response Protocol. It is not mentioned apart from "a financial payment as a tangible means of recognising the harm which the person may have suffered."

† Seeking information on the outcome of Head of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference Mark Coleridge under investigation over alleged response to child abuse information. This goes back to February 25, 2019 .

† Trying to contact a long time Xavier teacher through an intermediary. It has always been my opinion that many of them know a lot about historical abuse but the code of silence prevents them talking.

† Chau Chak Wing awarded $590,000 in defamation case over ABC Four Corners episode
Once again one sees the incredible disparity between calculating defamation harm and calculating sex abuse harm.
If the courts used defamation calculation methods sex abuse amounts would be more in the range of $1 - 10 million.



New Provincial
With the upcoming end of Brian McCoy SJ's tenure as provincial I thought I should brief the new boy , Fr. Quyen Vu SJ, on the state of play within the Society of Jesus.
Its a list of stuff on this website that I believe is relevant to his new job as Provincial.
On 26/10/2020 I sent him an email to his place at Sisophon, Cambodia. (no reply as yet).
♦ Letter_to_Father_Quyen_Vu_SJ_October_2020

Complaints Handling Policy
Have also been digging into Catholic Religious Australia (CRA) and Catholic Professional Standards Ltd. (CPSL) about Complaints Handling Policy.
I spoke to Daniele Donnini (CPSL) for over an hour on the phone.
What I understand is that having a Complaints Handling Policy is voluntary.
CPSL have no enforcement ability.
Daniele says that their big stick is when they do an audit on the entity,
which is published and would embrrass them into compliance if found wanting.

In the last year CPSL have done 12 audits, at that rate auditing all the 150 and more members of CRA would take 12.5 years!


Looking at a few of the audits and then the policies of the entity it seems that compliance is a very flexible notion.
Especially the requirement to investigate a complaint.
It says only that, no detail on what that should involve.

This is important because the information the entity knows must be given to the police when there is an investigation.
And should be given to a complainant in a civil suit.
An example is the Marilyn Warren investigation in the move of Victor Higgs from St. Ignatius, Adelaide to St. Ignatuis, Riverview (1970-1)
Brian McCoy SJ had said we have no knowledge that he was moved because of a sex abuse complaint.
Marilyn Warren found (mostly from the Jesuit archives and a publicly known account of a complaint) that he was moved because of a sex abuse complaint.
Just depends on how hard you look doesn't it?
CPSL and CRA both rejected the Royal Commission Recommendation that there be independant oversight of complaints handling.


Been a while, all very Covid quiet.
How much of the iceberg are we seeing?
Information about, offenders, new offenders, claims and police action keep coming in.
Like a little stream bubbling along, not a torrent.

The names of The Silent keeps growing.
I coined the term Interrogo Phobia for them.
Sad to say that Davina Calheam, the Old Xavs manager, has joined their ranks.
And after the zoom meeting cancellation (I'm pretty sure it won't happen)
Peter "Roly" Howard, Graham Sharp, Paul Henderson and Graham O'Rourke have been underlined and bolded.
These four fellas would know an awful lot about the history of abuse at Xavier,
abuse of all types, sexual, physical and emotional.

My opinion is they all knew. At least some things or a lot of things.
That's how schools work, some students know somethings, some teachers know some things.
It is compatmentalised but if you add them together almost everything was known.

This Moral Cowardice by the Jesuit priests and lay teachers is a great impediment to revealing the truth and getting justice.
Not ONE has ever said they were aware of abuse at the time they were there.
Not ONE has ever said anything really. (Andrew Hamilton SJ did say he knew nothing).
My many emails to persons who would know things have gone unanswered.
Bill Shorten did not reply and now I am told that as a student at Xavier he was in sex abuser Philip Wallbridge's clique of boys.

The disgraceful Fr. Chris Gleeson SJ now has two totally credible reports of him ignoring and covering up sex abuse reports.
In South Australia he could be charged like Archbishop Philip Wilson, not in Victoria because there was no law at the time.
Really wants to make you throw up when you see Gleeson and the other Jesuits lauding sex/physical/emotional abuser Peter Quin SJ
at his funeral service. THEY KNEW...... "he was a tactile man".

Perhaps the biggest moral failure is by the boss himself.
Marilyn Warren said it is
"highly desirable" and "reasonably expected" that the Society of Jesus investigate the other 21 instances between 1968 and 1971."
AND: "there was a serious pattern of deviant criminal behaviour being perpetrated across the Society"
What did Fr. Brian McCoy do?
NOTHING.
He did not say one thing about the report, let alone actually do something.
If he was the CEO of Rio Tinto he'd be out on his arse and Rio Tinto would be investigated by parliament.
(he is being replaced at the end of 2020 thank god).

MONEY - POWER - AUTHORITY - REPUTATION
Most survivors of abuse have none of those, that's why the Society of Jesus wins.


Ultimately, though, the one man on earth closest to god is responsible.
If Pope Frank said all you priests and faithful must disclose what you know or be ex-communicated
then we might learn something. He won't of course because of the 4 Corners above.

The iceberg analogy is probably close to accurate, we might know 10% of what happened.

ASIDE
Public discourse is also a big problem.
It may be because our defamation laws scare people a lot.
We don't have the freedom of speech the USA haves.
Many good and sincere people decry the catholic church's actions and write about it in a
theoretical way and achieve nothing.
I call them the Bleating Lambs.
An example is a post I made on John Menadue's Pearls and Irritations website.
It was put up but later removed.
The reason being, I reckon, it was too specific and named names (defamatory?).
If you want to have any effect at all you have to name names.


The simple truth is that if they were what they profess to be,
the past would not have happened and the present would not be happening.

The walls of Troy still stand strong.
"Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes" (I fear the Greeks and the gifts they bring).
But the survivors don't have wooden ships to build a horse.


MYSTERIES
I've been wondering about the difference between digital and analogue.
Analogue is a type of thing like a sound wave that changes state constantly like a sine wave.
Digital has only two states, on or off, 1 or 0.
How can something change from one state to another instantly?
It can't. there has to be some sort of transition.
The base of a transistor supplies current to turn a transistor "on" and "off",
but the current has to flow, that takes time.
And if you divide a sine wave up into trillions of bits there is no connection between them.
The idea of something being continuous seems quite wrong.
The idea of something being digital seems quite wrong.
The you have to ask what the hell is going on?

So how can you think you are continuous?
You know you change over time, mental and physical, but you believe there is something continuous
or permanent that is "you".
Is this the "maya" (illusion) that we live?
if you are not continuous then what are you?

What is the human being is a mystery that hasn't been solved.
Psychologists don't know what the "mind" is.
They don't even know what memory is.

How much data can the brain/mind store?
Is absolutely everything you experience remembered/stored?
This begs the question of what is an emotion or feeling that is deep inside you and comes out when triggered by something.
The electrical/chemical/synapse etc. brain expalnation doesn't satisfy me.
And begs the question of how "things" can be changed.


I have a sneaking suspicion that the relationship between matter and energy is the key, as explained by Einstein.
If you burn a piece of wood so well it is totally consumed (not possible I know) all its matter is released as energy
and the piece of wood no longer exists.
Can you do the reverse? Like compress or do something to energy so much it turns into matter?
Or like a battery turn the energy into a physical form of opposing electrically charged molecules.

Shorting the terminals releases the energy, is that a trigger? does that happen in our mind.

These thoughts are in relation to the notion of "healing" and change.



Got the copy of the breach of Copyright and Defamation letter sent to the website hosting company. Its about another fun site I made as a parody of the Provincial election process.

I wasn't surprised they objected to me using their logo, but I was mystified about the what might be defamatory until I checked it.
I had made a mistake in putting Msg. John Day's information under Daven Day SJ's name.
No way in heaven is Daven Day SJ an alleged sex abuser, sorry Daven.
Old Xaverian Msg. John Day is of course a well known child sex abuser.

Its interesting that the Society of Jesus would send a letter of demand to the hosting company and not to myself.
Trying to use USA law to have the jesuit-provincial-australia.com website removed completely.

Thinking about this strategy could mean a few different things.

1. It would be very effective (briefly) if it worked.
   The USA has the First Amendment which gives much greater freedom of speech than we have here in Australia.
   And then a sneaky webmaster could have his site hosted in a country like Kazakstan where letters of demand would be burned on arrival.
   
   
2. It was only about jesuit-provincial-australia.com and not this website.
   Does that mean the lawyers can't find anything defamatory on this website?
   
   
3. I am sure they would use the same strategy on this website if they could.
   Because that would overcome the very bad look and media exposure from "going after" an Old Xaverian who is criticizing them.
   And if something allegedly defamatory had to be tested in court it might open up a whole can of worms about what is true and what is a lie.
   
   
4. The mistake of putting the wrong person's information under Daven Day SJ's name would have been as a very obvious error if you read it.
   But they did not ask me directly to delete it, which of course I would have done.
   
   This is consistent with their policy/strategy of never communicating with me about this website contents and some other matters I raise with them directly.
   This is the lawyers' advice I imagine, to never put anything in writing or speak publicly off-the-cuff or have any conversation recorded by any means.
   Everything is very, very carefully managed. I can't see Brian McCoy SJ doing a Mark Raper and going on the ABC 7:30 Report.
   

They have really shut down under strict instructions.
The recent Bill Doherty street talk was a good example.
Then you combine this with the over-riding impression I got from a meeting with Brian McCoy, Bill Doherty and Simon Davies, this was "there's nothing wrong with us, what's wrong with you?"

In that meeting Brian McCoy offered me a one-on-one meeting with him.
Not to discuss sex abuse but as "pastoral care" for myself.
Again it would be in private and no record made, everything becomes deniable.
I was actually quite insulted by that offer, its me that's the problem and he wants to help me fix it.

St. Kevin's College hitting the news.
Our beloved Xavier Principal, Bill Doherty, was Deputy Principal at St. Kevin's at the time (2014).
All of it is no surprise to anyone with knowledge of how the Society of Jesus works.


I made a few phone calls trying to find out about the pre-1980 xavier archives being destroyed.
Catherine Hall, the archivist was not available, so I phoned the school office.
Eventually I now have a phone appointment with Beloved Bill on the 24th Feb. 2020.
That's 10 days to wait just to ask the question.

And continuing silence from Brian the Transparent about the Warren/Higgs "recommendation".
"highly desirable" and "reasonably expected" that the Society of Jesus investigate the other 21 instances between 1968 and 1971.
No response to "there was a serious pattern of deviant criminal behaviour being perpetrated across the Society"


Another thing that has become clear over the last few weeks is that "we" (anyone who is trying to get the truth) is up against professional Public Relations managers, who really know how to do it.
An example is the Warren/Higgs Report release.
The only media story was in The Australian, and it was there immediately the next day.
Because of this (I am told second hand) a journalist at another major media outlet said his editor would not run the story because it had already been done.

This is called "back burning". You put out an oncoming media fire by getting in first.
And of notice is the Jesuit media manager (the new guy from National Australia Bank?) who fed the story to The Australian journalist chose The Australian because it is a less read outlet and not known for sex abuse stories.

The things you learn, ehhh.. Its a great big bad world out there.

This is of interest too:
Echoing our calls for the Society of Jesus to have complaints handles by an Independant Assessor.
RICHMOND, Virginia - Bishop Barry C. Knestout of Richmond Feb. 17 announced the establishment of he diocese’s Independent Reconciliation Program, which allows victim-survivors of clergy sexual abuse to receive monetary payment from the diocese.

Over there in the good ol' USA they are doing things we have been demanding be done here.
Publishing credibly accused offenders' names and having an indepandant assessor.
Why because ... the Redress Scheme is a disaster and Civil Suits are impossible for most survivors and informal compensation claims to the institution are mean, nasty and dirty and the survivor is nearly powerless.


The recent information received about Brian O'Reilly really underscores
the importance of snippets.
Now we know that after Xavier College he was at St. Josephs Marist Brothers , North Fitzroy
which merged with Redden Catholic College in Preston in the year 2000.

This is what I asked the Archdiocese of Melbourne archivist to find three times and never got a response.

That completes the timeline and begs the question
how could he work at two more schools after Xavier College dismissed him.
There is one report of him doing his sex talk grooming at St. Joseph's/Redden
and rumours of being "close" to students at Santa Maria College, Northcote.

Whatever reference Xavier College gave him it must not have said anything about his sexual grooming of students. "do you masturbate?", "do you produce semen?" etc.
Xavier College failed in its ethical duty, if not legal duty, to protect students at other schools.
Brendan Ellis was Head of School.
When I said to Simon Davies (Jesuit Director of Professional Standards) that Brendan Ellis in 1997 covered up
three sex abuse cases and did not report the ones he was legally required to do,
Davies said I was "completely wrong about Ellis" but would not explain why.

This is 1997 not 1967 when the same happened with Willi Kovac who went to Marcelin College and abused more boys.
Xavier College had not changed its secrecy, non-disclosure and cover-up methods in 30 years.

Some time ago I phoned Santa Maria College they confirmed Brian O'Reilly worked there until he retired in 2018.
But when I sent Deborah Barker, the Principal, a photo of O'Reilly asking her to confirm that was him,
I got no reply and she cut off communication.

This is year 2020 and nothing has really changed in schools and institutions regarding being open, honest and transparent.
Covering up sex abuse and protecting their reputation is still paramount.
All public statements about transparency, especially Brian McCoy's are lies.
(If i am wrong I guess they will sue me for defamation)


Pretty horrible stuff going on with the bushfires.
This is the smoke from the Tasmania fires about 560km away from where I live in Victoria.

"and so this is christmas and what have you done?" John Lennon
Merry Xmas and Happy New Year to all.
Brian McCoy s.j. might be struggling with that after a week from hell.
In just 5 days there was the Celso Romanin Supreme Court action in the media naming the Society of Jesus and Brian McCoy as defendants,
then the Marilyn Warren report on the Victor Higgs move from St. Ignatius, Adelaide to Riverview, Sydney handed to him,
then the sad news that a former Jesuit and former Rector of Xavier, with sexual abuse allegations hanging over him, had taken his own life.
The first two prompted public responses from the schools and McCoy.
They didn't say much about Romanin because its a legal action in progress, but they know all about a previous investigation into Romanin by the Melbourne Response and never said anything.

Then the very tired glum looking Brian's statement and video about Higgs with deep contrtion and all that other stuff they always say.
This dishonest immoral farce that they knew nothing keeps going on.
The Warren report shows and suggests that the Jesuit Provincial was always informed of the nature of complaints about a priest/brother/scholastic before the Provincial moved him.
And Ms. warren was able to find the records that McCoy was unable to.
Its all a complete farce straight out of the "Yes, Minister" playbook - how to lie, cover-up and obfuscate.

Brian McCoy s.j. is only 3 steps from God.
Brian ---> Arturo Sosa --> Pope Francis --> GOD.
And this is the best he can do?
its only when his own people start calling him out that anything might change.
The other thing is he doesn't have long to go as Provincial, it should be over sometime this year I think.
Possibly a new guy might be more honest and genuine.

In politics they really only change when they can't hold back the breaking dam anymore.
The Jesuit dam is springing leaks all over the place now, Brian is running around trying to plug them.
I am sure he is eagerly waiting to step down and become a normal priest again.
Then he has plenty of time to do his Examen and confessions and lots of prayer and some retreats.
I wish him luck with that.

Here's hoping that 2020 will produce real confessions from the Society of Jesus and real justice for the survivors of Jesuit abuse.


The Society of Jesus facing the truth and being transparent is not going to happen.
Not surprised I know.
To me at least, it seems we are entering a stalemate situation.

Secret, private, off the record conversations have been proved to be
merely a means of shutting things down.
Naming offenders is a good example, at first they say they will consider it,
then they raise "problems" (how do you decide?), then they have an opinion from Prof. Smallbone,
its a denial of natural justice, then the idea is killed.

Why would you trust a man (William Doherty) who gets his Personal Assistant to lie for him about a meeting details?


And they refuse to have on-the-record , on camera conversations.
There is no middle ground.
Among the 37 questions I have for them, some are very serious.
Some are just about morally and ethically repugnant things..

All these questions can easily be answered if they wanted to.
Not answering some is possibly covering up criminal behaviour and a crime itself.
(Crimes Act Section 325 - Accessories).

They have my list of questions, I wonder if they are huddling with their lawyers looking for the escape door.
They have called the issues I raised "serious" and offered an off-the-record "conversation" with Fr. McCoy and William Doherty.
For what reason? To try to hose it down obviously.

Then Simon Davies offers me a coffee and a chat.
Interesting that this would be outside their domain, a neutral location.
One on one, off-the-record, no witnesses.
Why?

As of now, the only thing that is of any use is public on-the-record statements.
All else is covering up, obfuscation, minimising and attempts to shut things down.

If you are confident of your moral, ethical and legal standing why wouldn't you make your
opinions,behaviour and policies public information?



Interesting outcome from meeting negotiations with Bill Doherty (Xavier Principal) and Sally Nightscales his Personal Assistant.
Its not going to happen. It is pointless having a "conversation" , as he put it, with him.
I made it very clear at the beginning that I would like a meeting if he would go on camera.


I want the school's position on things, and what they do and have done to help survivors, to be clear and public.
Sally put the on camera requirement in the initial email she sent to Doherty. I have a witness to that.
Sally rang me and I agreed to meeting on Wed. 5 June 2019 at 5:30pm.
Then when I spoke to Sally on Monday 3 June, to confirm details of the meeting, she denied any knowledge of being on camera as part of the meeting.
Why is she lying? Has she been coerced?


Bill Doherty will not disclose or admit that the email he received said on camera was required.
My guess is they made an error in agreeing to the meeting, forgetting about being on camera, and then decided to deny that on camera was ever part of the agreement.
So, Bill has agreed to meet, but with no camera or audio recording equipment, and if I bring along two supporters/witnesses he wants to know who they are.

Control..control..control... that's what its all about. Losing control really scares them.
Since I won't be there he can use that hour to draft up a policy for helping survivors.


What do you call it? Cowardly?
I really am shocked they would lie, but i shouldn't be, the priests/laypersons
I have met or spoken to do not have a problem with lying to protect their institution or themselves, and to refuse to answer questions.
___________________________________________


Reading this appalling article by Christopher Akehurst
http://xavier-college-kew-abuse.com/show_posts.php?forum_number=11&forum_post_number=73#666
does give you a good impression of how those deep inside the catholic church really do view the victims and survivors of sex abuse.
Essentially, they are the enemy.
They want our money.
They want to ruin our reputation and authority.


They are exagerrating and wrongly blaming their life failures on being abused.
He can say that but its a two handed game for the Bishops and Provincials in charge of receiving complaints.
Public opinion says they have to appear caring, compassionate and conciliatory,
and do that and also defend and deny and limit compensations and keep it all secret at the same time.
Its a political game. And it works for as long as the secrets are able to kept secret.



Monday 18 March 2019
It is a spiders web. Trying to follow up Brian O'Reilly after Xavier (1977) leads me to the
Ballarat diocese and childhood friend Michael Myers who is the Professional Standards person there.
Which leads to Ballarat Bishop Bird and his history.


Bird was educated at a Marist Brothers sex abuse school in Newcastle (Marist Brothers Hamilton), NSW.
He has defended disgraced Bishop Mulkearns and has shown , in the past, real callousness towards survivors.
As with the Jesuits, the Ballarat diocese is speaking sweet words but get tough when it comes to settling a complaint
"we can't afford it" and turning it into a lawyer versus lawyer negotiation.
Nothing is really changing, that's the problem.



Because this website is becoming too full of news and my own personal comments and opinions its getting a bit confusing and hard to find what you want.
Its really hard to know where to stop because everything is relevant.
Stories from other countries show the cover ups are the same modus operandi the world over.


So I have made a sister site jesuit-abuse-australia.com for just the bare bones of Jesuit sex abuse.
If you just want information about the Jesuits it might be easier to go there.


The Pell explosion continues. The ABC's Four Corners is showing a story tonight based on Louise Milligan's book, Cardinal.
Cardinal is updated and back on sale. Bookshops were ordered to remove it from sale as part of the Pell suppression order.



Well, my god, extraordinary blow back and denial from the Pell supporters.
The justice system failed they say. They were happy with how the justice system worked when
George Pell via his lawyers killed John Ellis' suit and made the church unsueable and when
Philip Wilson's conviction was overturned on the semantics of "belief".


Rightousness is a dangerous possession, it has caused wars and crusades.
A lot of of it is so familiar and echos what you hear from Old Xaverians about P.J. Stephenson.
"he was such a nice man, he could not have done it" with Stephenson though, they can't deny he had ample opportunity.


Is it really neccessary to believe.
Belief and faith are not founded on something that can be shown to real or true.
This makes the believer vulnerable to a challenge. The defence calls upon the same unproveable beliefs that began it all.
Its a non-sensical circle.




I did get a reply from "Office of the Hon Dan Tehan, MP"
Who that is I have no idea.

The response was straight from the Jesuit's playbook.
"Given the serious nature of your email, Victoria Police are best placed to discuss the issues you have raised. "
Did Dan actually read my email? Sounds to me like a staffer briefed him on it and he said tell him to go to the police.
As in, its not my problem, I don't want to know about it, there's no way way I'm getting involved in Jesuit's sex abuse politics.

So I replied to that saying they deliberately misunderstood what I was asking.
Then I got another reply.


"Thank you for your email of 4 February 2019 to Senator the Hon Dan Tehan MP, Minister for Education.



The issues you have raised fall under the portfolio responsibilities of The Hon Paul Fletcher MP, Minister for Families and Social Services.
Accordingly, your email has been referred to the Department of Social Services for consideration.



Yours sincerely



Parliamentary and Governance Branch
Australian Government Department of Education and Training"


Again they deliberately misunderstood my request and brushed it off over to another department which has absolutely nothing to do with what I am asking.

There has not been an actual name of a person in the department given.

They have not said even if Dan Tehan has been made aware of my request.

It could be just an anonymous information gatekeeper deciding how to get rid of the problem.


And I thought getting an truthful response from the Jesuits was difficult!!!!!!
So, as of now, I will have to say that the Department of Education and Training is complicit in the covering up of child sex abuse.
I can't name Dan Tehan because I don't even know if he is aware of my request.
Yes, Minister!!!!!!


Dan is an Old Xaverian of course. A farm boy who moved to take over the seat of Wannon after
David Hawker (who's mum was a lovely lady and an artist) and before that it was Malcolm Fraser's seat for many years.

Malcolm played golf with Peter Thompson and Lee Kuan Yew at the opening of the Grampians Golf Club in 1965 (approx.).
Its a lovely course but has always struggled for members and money. Alan Myers has never donated a dollar to it as far as I know.
I souvenired Peter Thonpson's golf ball which began my addiction to golf I think. Ooops off topic....


So, I replied back to Dan challenging him to take on some moral responsibility and do something as simple as phone Brian McCoy.
With the priviledge of power comes responsibility does it not?


If you think about this simply, the Provincial of the Society of Jesus in Australia WILL NOT talk to me about serious allegations of sex abuse by a living Jesuit priest.
Staggering really.



S I L E N C E
Brian McCoy s.j.
Jill Hennessy (Attorney General)
Dan Tehan
Kevin Andrews
Mathias Cormann



I was talking to the psychologist I see one day about memory.
He was pretty much of the standard psychology opinion that there is short term memory,
from there some things worth keeping are transferred to long term memory and some things are just discarded because they have no worth or use for the person.
If you remembered absolutely everything it would be just too much and in a Darwinian sense not necessary for survival.
But we hear about how incredibly powerful the brain is as a computer, exactly how much is still unknown.


Hypothetically you could say that the brain could remember everything because the power/ability to do so is there.
Also you could say we don't remember everything we remember.
Imagine its like a key stroke logger on your computer working in the background, noting down everything you do.
This reminds of the power of a basic computer , say 5 million transistors (switches) at machine level.
I once made an error in a loop statement piece of code, when the code ran it produced about half a million lines of text in about 15 seconds.


My suggestion to the psychologist was that we do actually remember everything.
Most of it is not a conscious act, its a background logging process.
There is plenty of "room" to store it all in the unconscious part of the mind/brain.
What we pull up something from long term memory is what we need for whatever purpose at this moment.


But we do have an "instinct" as human beings to avoid pain and suffering, so memories that
will bring about painful feelings are kept in a "special place" or tagged as "top secret" in a sense,
and the conscious mind is blocked from accessing them.
This is a self-protection function. We do have to function as a person in a social world.
But to keep those "top secret" memories in their place actually requires a mental effort,
an amount of mental energy is used continuously to hold them in their place. We don't notice we are doing this.


But we do know unconsciously how extremely powerful and painful they can be, they are
like hand grenades hidden in the deepest recesses of your mind. Small balls of dark powerful energy.
This creates a tension of opposing forces. Like trying to hold something firmly in your two hands
and trying to open your hands at the same time. There is no solution to that conflict. You cannot do both.


Its like a dam thats trying to burst and you are always busy watching for leaks and plugging them up.
This tension in the mind causes problems. The actual memory is kept secret but the lessons learned from the experience are not.
If the experience was one of betrayal for example the lesson learned is do not trust anyone who is in a smilar position.
The mind and body function as one connected thing. It is not just thoughts/mental images that are stored
it is also the physical sensations/emotions that accompany the experience.


When you have a thought that makes you feel sad or happy, the sad or happy feeling is not a result of the thought,
the two elements actually arise together because they are really the one thing with two forms.
If you "pull the pin" on one of the hand grenades, accidentally or by a therapeutic process possibly,
the whole thing will explode at once releasing all its energy.
That can be shattering and extremely painful to the person. But usually a good thing in the end.


Alternatively the safer route is slowly accessing parts of the secret memory over time,
this is much easier to handle, small amounts of the dark energy are released progressively.
Giving the person time to process and assimilate the new information/emotions/feelings etc.
Trying to act in one's own best interests is difficult when the act will involve inducing pain and suffering in oneself.

Knowledge is a strange thing and what is wisdom.


Its a month now since I sent this email to Fr. McCoy.
Dear Fr. McCoy,
I am hoping you might be able to help me.
As you know my attempt to speak to Fr. Peter Beer in person, at Pymble, was unsuccessful.
I would still like to speak to him in person and hear from him his recollections
of his time at Xavier College and Burke Hall.
Ought you not also want to know?


I think asking his secretary for an appointment or, god forbid,
knocking on his door would not be fruitful.
So, I am asking you to arrange a meeting with myself and Fr. Beer.
I can fit into any day or time that is available, with a few days notice.


I am under the impression that as Provincial you can require Fr. Beer to do what you ask.
I found this reference.
"Religious, including Jesuits, take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience;
they are under the authority of their local superior and provincial. "
"In the interests of ongoing transparency and accountability" as you yourself have said.


I cannot think of any sensible reason why I can't simply talk to Fr. Beer.
Thank you very much.
I look forward to a positive response.
Yours sincerely,
(name witheld)


No reply as yet, I guess I won't get one.
So now I am asking some prominent catholics to phone Fr. McCoy and ask him why he is protecting Fr. Beer from a simple conversation.
Dan Tehan, Kevin Andrews and Mathias Cormann so far.


Still no reply from Fr. McCoy


Still no reply from Fr. Brian McCoy.
Guess he might be on holiday still.

Sunday 13 January, 2019
Nostradamus! Seeing ahead into 2019.

Prediction 1: It will get worse! For the church as a whole and the Society of Jesus in Australia.
Prediction 2: The Higgs inquiry result will be a very contained admission and not go further.
Prediction 3: At least one (maybe 3 or 4) living Jesuit will be exposed as a sex abuser and that he was protected for many years.
Prediction 4: Brian McCoy s.j will continue to not answer my emails. (not his fault, I'm a serial pest aren't I?)

The Society of Jesus is very concerned they might lose control of the whole thing.
Historically their control management has been excellent. Congrats guys!
But what is starting to happen resembles that chinese drop by drop water torture or the death from a thousand cuts.


There are many more little probing thrusts coming from many different directions.
The strategy to funnel it all to one point, the Professional Standards Office has worked very well up to now.
Publicity and public exposure and public opinion is their achille's heel.
And historically the only thing they respond to.
What would an activist be thinking, I wonder?



Happy New Year Y'all......... Its gonna be a good one.
Its an anniversary of sorts, this website is just over a year old. And it has certainly changed a lot.
The initial idea was very simple. Find out who the offenders are/were and name them.
But slowly you learn that everything is connected to everything else, its a maze within a spider's web.


I never suspected the law would become a crucial part of the story.
But, as I said to a XAS Network member recently, the Society of Jesus has had 12 months to show good faith and they haven't and they won't.
When you are stonewalled like that you look for other avenues to truth and justice and the law,
unfortunately in a real way, is about all that is on offer.


A good part of the reason for this is The Sounds of Silence from the Alumni of Xavier College , Riverview, St. Aloysius (Sydney),
St. Ignatius (Adelaide) and hundreds of other influential Catholics in this country.
If they were to speak out e.g. demand the release of sex abuse files and information, the Society of Jesus would be compelled to respond.
But they won't. So the law raises its hydra-like head instead.

This reluctance mystifies me somewhat because to speak out is "no lose" action really.
How could any Catholic be criticized for asking for honesty and trandparency (the real version not the SoJ version).
I really don't know what they might be afraid of. Criticizing the Church? The disapproval of Archbishops and religious leaders?
It is a lot like a class room full of kids being asked a difficult question and no one is game to put their hand up first.
The Old Xaverians Association slumped down under its desk and tried to hide behind the boys in front.


The shame in this is shown by the recent example of Provincial Brian McCoy being forced to make an
inquiry into the Victor Higgs moves from school to school. This was only done because "some concerned people" (Simon Davies) wanted it.
Those concerned people were not you and me, they were influential Alumni of Jesuit schools you can be sure.

The Jesuit Scools Alumni and other influential Catholics have, in the palm of their hands,
an easy and simple way to help hundreds of survivors of sex abuse and they won't do it.
This is a simple moral challenge, should someone do it? Answered by not "grappling" with it, to use Andrew Hamilton's excellent word.
Who is going to be the first to put their hand up publicly?


If I had 2 or 3 other mes I would contact all these Catholic folks and try to get a yes or no about a few questions.
Its very dificult to find contacts for well known people, takes a lot of time, and often you can't.


I keep making up mottos like this "Grasp any straw the wind blows your way"

We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow
T.S. Eliot



Almost Xmas. When I was a kid it was consdidered very wrong to abbreviate like that.
All I want for Xmas is decent complete biographies of Jesuits.
On their official website https://jesuit.org.au/community/jesuit-profiles/
Only about half those listed have anything at all, and today the links aren't working.
You won't find Victor Higgs, Noel Bradford, Philip Wallbridge. They are removed if they die or leave the priesthood.

So, where was Higgs between 1981 - 85? The gap between Riverview and Xavier.
Google can't even find out for me who was the Jesuit Provincial 1967-72 who moved Higgs from Adelaide to Sydney.
Oh sorry Santa, I also want a pro-bono criminal lawyer to help with understanding the law.
The New Year I think will see some civil suits lodged and the historical cover-ups will
start to be exposed and become big news because quite a few involved (perps and the puppet masters) are still living.


"If you're innocent, you have nothing to worry about". This sort of statement usually comes from a government about to invade your privacy.
You can't trust them, is always my reaction.
But I think it should apply to the Society of Jesus in Australia.
The Victor Higgs cover ups: Brian McCoy has put all his selected Higgs files in a cardboard box
in a little room at Jesuit HQ and given Marilyn Warren the key to go in. She will make a report from what she is allowed to see.


No living person will be found guilty of anything, that's why he's letting her do it and because
someone with power and influence has demanded it (an ex-Riverview student I suspect).
Being a Catholic, I wonder if she will join Father McCoy in morning and evening prayers.
Does Father McCoy think that doing this one investigation will be enough to make everyone satisfied?
Or might it open more demands to investigate other cover-ups? The Philip Wallbridge cover-up, for example,
which would be strongly resisted because it involves living priests like Bill Uren s.j.


The list goes on, it is a systemic, consistent institutionalized pattern of behaviour that still goes on.
Covering-up and non-reporting to the Police by the Jesuit Provincial is not a crime in Victoria.
But there are possible legal problems for living persons with "Concealing a crime for benefit" or
"Failure by person in authority to protect child from sexual offence" both crimes, and "Negligence",the basis of a civil suit.


The other contentious thing going on is, with the large release of names of offenders in the USA, what exactly is a "credible report"?
This needs to be decided and the Jesuits to open all their files to a completely independant investigator, not some Catholic no matter how big the CV is.
For example, there is one Catholic Victorian Supreme Court Justice who will just not talk about Catholic sex abuse at all, ever.
Skilful ways and means are required more than ever , methinks.



Sometimes I ask myself, is what I am asking of the Jesuits fair and reasonable?
Its something you have to answer yourself. If you think it is and you find they won't respond in a truthful and honest manner,
then the next question is, what can you do? what should you do? what is reasonable and justifiable and what is not?
Its a question activists have faced forever.
Martin Luther, Ghandi, Martin Luther King, the Black Panther Party, Aung San Suu Kyi etc.
Its a choice you make that aligns with your own philosophies, your personality, but "for the good of others"
you might have to go beyond your personal comfort zone. e.g. overcome shyness, be more demanding, think outside the box.
The Action and the Person are in a sense different things.


I'm having a holiday, hope you don't mind.
sawasdee kup!!.. and all that. Ah the genius of the internet. In the old days you pack your Lonely Planet,
a pen and some paper for writing letters and off you go. There was something good about being totally disconnected from your other life.


Unwelcome CLC (Christian Life Community) visitation - Anglesea, Vic.
See below.
The CLC is also erasing Noel Bradford s.j. from its history. story here..
http://xavier-college-kew-abuse.com/show_posts.php?forum_number=4&forum_post_number=19



I phoned the school about 3 days ago and asked for Graham Sharp's and Paul Henderson's phone numbers.
(both long time teachers at Xavier, Graham Sharp taught me Latin in 1968 / Year 11, the year he arrived at Xavier)
They said they can't give them out and they would relay a message to them to call me.
So far not a whisper.
Previously there have been sent 2 messages to Graham Sharp via facebook and other means.
He seems to not want to talk. You can't help but think , why?



Only yesterday I found out about the Reportable Conduct Scheme which comes under the Commission for Children and Young People. (Victoria)
It has been in operation since January 01 2018. The purpose is to protect children from possible harm by
anyone being able to report a suspected/known sex offending person, if this person is in a position that involves contact with children.
The head of the institution that employs or has this person as a volunteer etc. is then compelled to investigate the person.
The scheme monitors and receives reports of this investigation.
The head is also compelled to make an investigation if the suspected person is reported directly to
him/her and advise the Scheme that they have received the report within 3 days.
Failure to comply is a criminal offence.



Simon Davies response to my request that he investigate Fr. Peter Beer was:
"The Society of Jesus takes all allegations of child sexual abuse very seriously. If you have not already done so,
I would strongly encourage you to contact the Victoria Police, who are the most appropriate body to investigate alleged criminal behaviour."
Which means that he will not.

The other day a "new" ex-student describes how Beer mercilessly strapped boys year after year and enjoying it.
This got me wondering.
Someone who likes power and control, instilling fear and inflicting punishment becomes “transformed”
ten years later when arriving at Xavier. After years in seminaries and universities.

Is that possible? Or is it just sublimated because such behaviour is only possible in a school with young boys.
With older boys (16-17yo) strapping is not really done.
He changed into an “ingratiater” , “call me Peter”, being cool and groovy and “new thinking” of the 1960’s (free love) ,
especially about sex, being the boys’ best friend.

Was his love and pleasure in power and punishment still lurking underneath?
Did this, when the opportunity was just right, come out again but with the added sex component?
Rape is about power, control, inflicting punishment, the penis is the weapon instead of the strap.



Brain has been ticking over. How much do you function by feel versus functioning by intellectual analysis.
Interesting how we will say "it feels wrong" rather than explain its wrong by analysis.
Are morals and ethics something you feel as well as construct intellectually?

One mistake I have made is to give benefit of the doubt to those inside the Jesuit shell.
Now, from having had a number of in person discussions, I realise that they really don't care about survivors.
They care only about themselves and damage control amd limiting harm to themselves.
Sad but true.


I have emailed Simon Davies (Jesuit Director of Professional Standards) asking him to start an
investigation into Fr. Peter Beer s.j. for misconduct with boys at Xavier in 1969,
Burke Hall in 1957-59 and at seminaries and other places he was at.
Usually they don't act unless there is an actual complaint on their desk.
But I think there is more than enough evidence about Beer that they should, out of professional duty, look into it.
Eagerly awaiting a reply to that request.

I do like the Texas Dioceses' promise to publicly release information on all credible allegations going back to 1950.
The Jesuits, and ALL dioceses and institutions, should follow this example. The Vatican??? haa haaa........

Also very strange that a Melbourne barrister I emailed ages ago replied that he wasn't interested in the topic,
and I find out he was sexually assaulted at Kostka Hall by Fr. Joseph Craig. There are a few possible reasons, its hard to know which it might be.



Had a long talk to an ex-student yesterday. We started with some issues he has with his putting,
a right hand twitch through the stroke, then worked on his pitching lob shot, keeping the club outside the hands an sliding across the ball.
Its not easy to change ingrained habits. Ask the Catholic Church about that.
I am going to blame the Catholic Church for my handicap going out 5 shots in the last 6 months.


His life and trajectory was changed almost immediately after being being assaulted by Fr. Craig at Kostka Hall
and very sadly also two of his brothers were abused at another Catholic Institution.
He successfully did something about his brothers assaulters, it took courage and tenacity, but he succeeded.

Like many, he believes there is still work to be done in regards to the Jesuits and Xavier College.
He said there have been many claims and settlements about Fr. Joseph Craig and Fr. P.J. Stepehnson,
he knows this from talking to someone who is on "the inside". Of course, we will never know about these.
I am hoping he will allow me to post more of his story soon.


My legs hurt! Damn that Sydney place there's not a flat bit of ground anywhere.
Blimey, there's some money up there in Pymble. Big houses, some really old, looks like Toorak in Melbourne.
That Canisius compound must be worth multi-millions.
I did the thing I reported on the front page. left home 7:30am got back 9pm, not bad really, thanks to planes,trains and automobiles.
The thought occurred to me, that in doing this stuff, its like you invest $10 worth of time, effort and real money to get a bout a 2 cent return. Hard yakka......


I'd like to thank Collingwood for losing the Grand Final.
Think i gotta get out more. Went over to the river the other day for a few hours, warm sunny day,
couples and families walking and sitting on the beach, all nice and normal.
Very strange to be watching that and typing about sex abuse on my laptop.

- The powers that be. versus the victim. Christine Blasey Ford has the President of the United States,
the Republican party and Kavanaugh himself all lined up against her. So vicious and nasty. All so very similar to how the catholic Church defends against an allegation.

- 13 Sept 2018. Spoke with Andrew Hamilton s.j. (Xavier 1966-67, Eureka Street consultant and mentor to the Christian Life Community),
have to say I was very very disappointed by his lack of concern for about almost everything.

- Played golf with a barrister SC (Senior Counsel) on Saturday, he does crime so not terribly relevant to my interest.
But when talking about catholics in the law in Melbourne he said they call it the "Catholic Mafia".

- Might have some progress with getting an academic person to do a research project on the
historic culture of abuse at Xavier college and prep. schools.
Spoke to a professor the other day, he seems quite interested.

- Still a few replies coming in from the letter mail out. All are supportive, there have been very few negative ones.


- ex-student tells me the Ballarat Diocese has been completely gutted. Catholics leaving the churches in droves.