Abuse by members of Roman Catholic orders

As distinct from abuse by some parish priests, who are subject to diocesan control, there has also been abuse by members of Roman Catholic orders, which often care for the sick or teach at school. While diocesan clergy have arranged parish transfers of abusive priests, so also the Orders' members have been found to relocate abusive Brothers to other places.

In response the Roman Catholic Church published its "Instruction Concerning the Criteria for the Discernment of Vocations with regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in view of their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders" in 2005. However this did not address the significant problem of heterosexual abuse by members of Roman Catholic orders.

Catholic Canon law had for centuries laid down the demanding professional requirements and duties of its members, and these were summarised in the Papal encyclical "Religiosorum institutio" of 1961. Paragraph 29 emphasised that – "Among the proofs and signs of a divine vocation the virtue of chastity is regarded as absolutely necessary".

In Australia, there were allegations that during the 1970s sexual abuses took place at the junior campus of St Patricks College and St Alipius Primary School (now closed) in Ballarat, Victoria. After investigation, Brothers Robert Best, Edward Dowlan and Stephen Francis Farrell were all convicted of sex crimes. Dowlan and Best were later transferred to the senior campus, and continued to offend.

In February 2008, a teacher at Marist College Canberra, Brother John William Chute, (also known as Brother Kostka), pleaded guilty in the ACT Magistrates Court to eleven charges of indecently assaulting students of the college during the 1980s. Damages for sexual abuse have also been sought by former students at Marist College Canberra.

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