DE LA SALLE COVER-UPS

I think all of us are aware that there were cover-ups amongst the De La Salle Brothers. I remember how Brother Solomon suddenly – according to the playground grapevine at the time – went to Jersey, then onto Beulah Hill which he was thrown out from, subsequently possibly spending some time at Homan’s Boy Town (a disturbing location for this ‘Jimmy Savile of the De La Salle Order’) before returning to St Joseph’s as lay teacher Mike Mercado and then being thrown out again for sexual abuse.

I recall, as a boy, Brother James writing in the school magazine what a great asset Solomon was to the college and what a spiritual person he was. He clearly knew otherwise. It never rang true to me at the time.

Later, James himself got moved to Beulah Hill where his behavior was equally criminal. His obituary described him as a shy and timid man, not the violent rapist he really was. Once again, whoever wrote that obituary – almost certainly a DLS brother – must have known the truth and was lying through his teeth.

Similarly, when a startled Knight of St Columba (the Eminence Gris of St J’s) discovered the shocking evidence of violent abuse by James, he proclaimed ‘Oxford shall hear of this!’ I understand Oxford was and is the DLS centre of operations.

All these and many other references on this blog and elsewhere indicate a high level of collusion and cover-ups within the De La Salle Order. But it’s never been as clear cut and revealing a central control as the account below just in from Guy Lavender, an Old Boy of DLS school St Peter’s.

He refers to “an administrative organization” being responsible.

It could therefore be valuable in the days to come. Many thanks to Guy for this account and for allowing me to use his name.

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FROM GUY LAVENDER

Just read your latest post regarding the abuse at St J’s. It is a reminder to me and a stark jolt to put pen to paper and add my account. As you quite rightly quote “If you are able to speak up, but remain silent then we are implicitly condoning the wrongdoing of others” something along those lines.

As I mentioned before, I did not attend St Joseph’s school. I was a boarder at St Peter’s school, Bournemouth (1975-1982) This was also a Catholic School run by the De La Salle teaching order as you know. After reading all the blogs, accounts i draw striking similarities to what happened at St Peter’s during my time as a border there.

But there is more than that. Before I attended St. Peter’s, I had 2 older brothers who attended another school, St John’s college, Southsea, also run by the De La Salle order. They were borders from 1970 to 1977. Their accounts of going’s on and wrongful abuse of boys during that time is equally harrowing.

Now then. Because of my brothers accounts of the behaviour of certain individuals at St John’s (namely Br Cyril) my experiences at St Peter’s (at the hands of Brother Kevin literally) together with reading all the stories, posts and blogs on your website, I am in a unique position to add an interesting perspective on all this scandalous abuse. This is what I have pieced together.

Let’s start with Brother Kevin. After reading the accounts by borders at St Joseph’s there was quite obviously some woeful wrongdoings involving Brother Kevin during the mid to late 1960’s. Then he was suddenly moved overseas and conveniently out of the way to France for 1 to 2 years. Long enough for the scandal to blow away and all be forgotten about no doubt. After which he was again re-appointed in a position of ultimate trust over young boys as junior housemaster at St Peter’s School, Bournemouth at around 1969-1970. There he was given a free hand to recommence his sinister and evil operations ie the abuse of young boys under the pious illusion and disguise of a religious white dog collar. I, as a border at St Peter’s from September 1975, was witness to much of his immoral behaviour.

Then there was the case of Brother Cyril. The notorious, weird and known homosexual housemaster at St John’s college, Southsea. According to my brothers there were several incidents involving improper conduct involving young boys at the hands of Brother Cyril during his time as housemaster of junior division there at St John’s. This was approximately from 1972 up until his untimely and abrupt transfer to St Peter’s school at around 1978. Now then, I do recall remarking to him that I had 2 brothers who were, at the time, still boarders at St John’s college.  I strongly remember the frosty and uncomfortable response that I received on even mentioning this. With hindsight, it was probably because I had been privy to his previous behaviour at St John’s that he then wanted and thought he could bury.

So it seems like we have a clear pattern of similar events here in just two accounts. Whenever the bubble is about to burst and some unsavoury individual is about to be exposed and held account for his actions, then he is conveniently moved or re assigned somewhere else.

What is abundantly clear to me is that it was not just one individual who was responsible for moving these monsters around to avoid detection, but an administrative organisation. Someone somewhere knew exactly what kind of person Brother Kevin was/is and actively appointed him in a position of trust and authority over young boys, some as young as 6 or 7 years old. Even as 11 year old boys we were very aware of the pedophile nature of Brother Kevin. Indeed, the jokes and sniggering comments transcended through every corridor and classroom in the school. Yet not one teacher knew anything about his despicable tendencies?? Impossible. Of course they knew and were fully aware. Every single one of them. But this was the 1970’s and pedophilia behaviour and activities were a taboo subject. It simply did not exist. Sadly it did.

I hope that my account and perspective on events helps to explain things at the time. Ie coverups. I will later on send you my account at the hands of Brother Kevin. I’m working on it. I’m not shy. I will be in touch again soon

A WAY FORWARD?

I’ve been reflecting on recent communications from Old Boys about the De La Salle Order. Now that I have a comprehensive range of testimonies, I’m starting to think about possible ways forward.

I’m reminded of the BBC documentary about the abuse by the Rosminian Order which has many similarities to the abuse by the De La Salle Order. Here’s how that documentary was introduced:

In 2009 over a hundred former pupils from two Catholic prep schools in England and Tanzania were reunited via the internet. Chatting in cyberspace they discovered they had all suffered  terrible abuse at school: mental, physical and in some cases sexual. Now, as men in their fifties and sixties, and strengthened by the group, they want the truth to come out. Twenty two men have started legal proceedings against the Rosminian Order for compensation. They want justice. But half a century has passed and their abusers are now elderly. What will it take to repair the damage and for the victims to feel able to move on?

The documentary came out in 2011. It was entitled Abused: Breaking the Silence. I remember watching it at the time and it’s very powerful. It’s no longer on Youtube or BBC iplayer and, confusingly, there is at least one documentary with a similar title.

The details of what happened are below, but the short answer is the Survivors won.

Almost certainly that’s why the documentary is no longer available. I suspect it was removed as part of the settlement.

There’s a full account of the BBC documentary here

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leicestershire-13880444

Here’s an excerpt from it:

Newcastle barrister Donald MacFaul, who attended the Leicestershire school from 1954-59, said: “What was created by what happened at school was a permanent sense of fear and dread.”

He said Father Bernard Collins, who was in charge of discipline at Grace Dieu, “used to shoot at boys using an air pistol and occasionally actually injured them”.

“He could beat you one minute and then fondle you intimately within a space of hours.”

Mr MacFaul’s father wrote to complain to the school.

Within a few months Father Collins left for the order’s St Michael’s School Soni in Tanganiyka – now Tanzania.

In a letter to one of his victims obtained by the BBC, Father Collins said: “I have left behind a legacy of pain and violence and confusion by my behaviour.”

In secret filming for the BBC documentary, he refused to admit fondling boys and said he was only carrying out inspections for medical reasons.

Here’s how events concluded, according to Wikipedia:

Apology for English abuse by the provincial of English Rosminians[edit]

According to an online news story, issued on 23 June 2011: “Following the U.K. broadcast of a documentary detailing the abuse of some 35 boys by four Rosminian priests in the 1960s, the order’s provincial in England released an apology for the acts of abuse and for our “inadequate response.””^[19]

Settlement[edit]

The audited financial statements for the year ending 5 April 2015 report under the heading “Legal and safeguarding related costs” that “Last year’s report referred to legal claims which had been brought against the Charity concerning the welfare of children between approximately 1940 and 1985. A settlement has now been reached in relation to these claims.” The Charity was liable also for the claimants’ legal fees. The matter has had a significant impact on the Charity’s finances with payment of their legal and settlement costs amounting to a total GBP 1,746,523 for the year.^[20]

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For me, the next step with the De La Salles  is to summarize key details and key offenders. The testimonies on this site are now numerous and sprawling and need collating. I’ll start doing that shortly and put summary page/s up which will be useful for quick reference.

Then I’m going to talk to a lawyer. He’s recognized as the top lawyer in this field.  I want to see if the Rosminian example is relevant to the De La Salles.

My first thought was : I just want the Order to acknowledge and apologise for the serious crimes they have committed against children, including myself, at St Joseph’s College, Ipswich, and their other schools in the south of England. Then I realized they won’t mean a word of it. It needs a more meaningful response and that’s something a lawyer can advise on.

I suspect when the survivors won against the Rosminians, they had no choice but to sign an NDA in exchange for compensation.  If I’m correct, they have my greatest sympathy, but that’s also saying to the Rosminians: ‘You, a group of men that includes dangerous criminals, have the right to dictate that your past crimes will be concealed in exchange for hush money.’  That is really fucked up, even if it is the way of the world, but at least the survivors got their stories out in the form of a major documentary.  I notice there’s now not a word about Rosminian abuse after 2011 on the internet.

I hope there is a better way.

The lawyer may say that action can only apply if the De La Salle brothers are still alive (and compos mentis). Or he may say that action can still be taken against the Order as an entity.  Or he may advise there may be other ways forward to expose their crimes that I’m not aware of. We’ll see.

There’s a lot of unknowns at this point.  It may be that many or all other survivors won’t want to be part of the process and that’s absolutely fine. I’m happy to go solo on it if my own case is viable and if it’s financially feasible.  It may or may not require a kickstarter. But if you do wish to be involved, be assured that, as always, your anonymity will be respected. And if the lawyer lays out a feasible road map and an achievable goal, you may then feel okay about taking part. Whatever he has to say, positive or negative, it will be valuable and informative to know just what’s involved.

If there’s anyone with legal knowledge of this field, I’d welcome your thoughts as it may help me in preparing the ground. Or even deciding it’s a non-starter, in which case I’ll continue with this blog, highlighting the Order’s crimes in preparation for a future Enquiry, like IICSA, which will inevitably happen.  Their crimes are not going to go away. On the contrary, as time passes, the evidence is gathering.

I’m aware from the Ampleforth case with the Benedictines, and informed sources, that abuse crimes are still current in the Catholic Church and its entities, despite safeguarding. So my concern is also for children today who may still be at risk and that also makes this action worth taking.

My email address is patmillswriter@gmail.com if anyone prefers to write to me direct. Your thoughts will be very welcome and, as always, your confidentiality is assured.

My twitter handle, by the way, is @PatrickEMills and I’ve made some valuable contacts and picked up some useful information via this social media.

BROTHER ELWIN, BROTHER HUGH, BROTHER JAMES

I thought it was important to make a separate post of this new statement below from an Old Boy.  This now makes four accounts of sexual abuse by Brother James at St Joseph’s. (As well as endless accounts of his extreme violence.)  The implications of Brother James’s comment, ‘I can see you’re not ready,’ is  troubling and confirms his role as a serial sex offender as well as a violent psychopath.

If I had confirming evidence in my own case against James,  e.g. a witness, I would have already taken legal action against the De La Salle Order.  Unfortunately, it’s a solo crime, but sooner or later the right case will come along as it does with other schools, and action can be taken.

I was reflecting today that I wish there were other sites or places where the crimes of the De La Salle Brothers and the Catholic Church in Ipswich could be recorded. I’m very happy to list them here because I know one day soon they will have to be acted upon, especially as the testimonies grow in numbers.  But some Old Boys may prefer sharing with a different body.

For the record, I’m only aware of three options. But do say if you know of more.

1)The police. By far the best option if the De La Salle brother or lay teacher is still alive and compos mentis.   Many of them are still alive, so if you’re a survivor and you can handle it, please don’t leave it too long.  I can assure you from personal experience the police will take your statement seriously.

2) Diocese Catholic Safeguard Officer. In my opinion and personal experience, they are there to safeguard the Church, not survivors. I tried them some years ago and found the Officer was a complete waste of time and full of b.s. They might argue that the DLS brothers fall outside their jurisdiction. The Church’s ability to buck pass is impressive.  But I would be very happy to be proved wrong.

3)The De La Salle Order. Its current head is Brother Laurence Hughes who has stated publicly how concerned he is for the well-being of children.  See a past post. I’ve just read three harrowing accounts of his extreme physical violence against children when he was a teacher at St J’s.  One account, where Laurence takes a bowler’s run up to beat a child, is identical to the violence the psychopath Brother James used on a boy.  A man like this is a disgrace and should clearly resign, but until he does I don’t see how the DLS can take complaints of abuse seriously.

It goes without saying that the current  St J’s  would go into Pontius Pilate mode and say any complaints against the school are nothing to do with them. They’re very happy to draw on the great achievements of the school’s past but not its serious crimes against children.

It’s surprising how many famous and influential Old Boys who were at St J’s at the same time as myself but have nothing to say about the appalling abuse which we all know was endemic at the time. It may not have happened to them personally, but they’d have to be deaf, dumb and blind not to have seen what going on.  At the time, with gallows humor, we’d all make jokes about Brother Solomon being sent to the DLS Jersey ‘reformatory’. Shipwrecked sailors arrived on the island, saw Brother Solomon, and ran from him in terror.

Now is the time to speak out, even if it duplicates what’s already been noted. It helps to confirm the truth beyond any reasonable doubt.

I’m reminded of the phrase: If you are able to speak up and you don’t, then you are implicitly condoning it.

THE LATEST ACCOUNT:

I’m coming to this very late. I had a fair bit of contact with Brother Elwin as I was Head Choirboy in the year or so leading up to his death, and I lived a long way from Ipswich so spent half term holidays at the college. During half term he would sometimes set up practice sessions with me and get me to sing music outside the usual Catholic repertoire. I was obviously lucky or just unattractive to him as even in those 1:1 situations he was never other than appropriate. I wish I could say the same of Brother Hugh. Actually I am slightly worried that I might be misremembering events because I have seen no reference to him as an abuser but when I was in the 3rd or 4th form he was in charge of our dormitory, and at night regularly positioned himself in a chair next to one particular bed after lights out and abused it’s occupant. One of the boys with a quick wit came up with a re-working of the tune to Dad’s Army which parodied this activity. Was Brother Hugh’s surname Leyland? I was groomed for a time in my first year by I think Brother James (I have buried the memory very deep) and ended up naked (him still dressed) in the laundry room off our dormitory, but bizarrely he then said “I can see you’re not ready” and told me to get dressed and didn’t touch me. That was my one and only near-miss although I was on the receiving end of much brutality during my years (1967 to 1973).

AMPLEFORTH: THE IMPLICATIONS

There is still a damage limitation exercise on the media’s coverage of Ampleforth. At the time of writing, no newspapers have covered the latest important development revealed by Channel 4 yesterday:

Channel 4 has seen a letter to the government from a solicitor for victims of historic abuse at Ampleforth College, alleging it has not fully separated itself from the Abbey as it had been told to. The school denies the claims.

https://www.channel4.com/news/ampleforth-college-faces-questions-over-pupil-safeguarding

Yet, despite this media partial blackout, it’s the biggest Catholic story of 2020 and 2021:Catholic Eton may be about to close down! The one exception to this media censorship is the Catholic Tablet, which, to its credit, has followed the Ampleforth case closely and shown honesty in its reporting and true diligence. Unlike the Catholic Herald, for example, who barely covered it.

What I take away from the Channel 4 story is that the Benedictine monks must still (still!) represent a threat to the safety of children.

And it reminds me that the De La Salle brothers may also still be a similar threat to children. Today.

In the case of St Joseph’s College, Ipswich, the De La Salle brothers have long gone and I’m sure the current regime would use the classic ‘get out of responsibilities for the past’ card. Namely: ‘The college is now an entirely different legal, financial and governance entity’.

Lawyers have tried challenging the adroit use of this card elsewhere – at Sherborne, for instance – but I doubt they’ll succeed.   

So St Joseph’s can endlessly draw on the school’s proud heritage as a selling feature for today’s prospective parents. But have nothing to say about horrendous crimes which exceed the crimes of the Ampleforth monks. Any glance through past posts on this site will bear this out.

They see no need to acknowledge them and neither do the De La Salle brothers who still run many schools in the UK. I’ve read two testimonies from St Joseph’s old boys about the DLS current head, Brother Lawrence Hughes, which allege he inflicted serious physical abuse on children. One of these testimonies is featured in a past post on this site.

The crimes this order have committed outside St Joseph’s are  endless. There are the approved schools in Scotland.

http://www.irishsalem.com/religious-congregations/de-la-salle-brothers/jimmyboyle-06may01.php

Boyle states, ‘We all knew instantly who’d been inside a De La Salle school because we all carried the same deep emotional and psychological scars. In our darkest moments we’d talk about our horrific experiences there. All of us agreed, no matter how tough any prison regime, none was as brutal as De La Salle.

‘The stories were the same from all the De La Salle schools.’

There are similar accounts about the DLS schools in N. Ireland.

And there’s the infamous Brother James Carragher, head of St Williams, who ran a ‘paedophile sweet shop’ making children available for the rich laity.

And there’s further revelations about the order now coming from Australia. And so on.

But we’re led to believe that the order is totally different today.  That they really care about children and would never harm them.  That’s like saying there were once bad S.S., but now there are good, reformed S.S. No, there is only S.S. and – by definition – they are the embodiment of evil. In my view, it’s impossible to reform organizations with proven track records of organized evil.

The role of the rich Catholic laity is certainly the gorilla in the corner where St Joseph’s, Ipswich, is concerned. They were the Eminence Gris that helped create the college and saved it from scandal. See my past posts and a survivor’s testimony in  ‘The shocking truth about St Joseph’s.’

I hope and assume that the Catholic laity in the current St Joseph’s era, who have a role in governing and running the school, have no continuity or connection with these past Catholic laity who were guilty of the most serious crimes against children.

Unfortunately, there’s no way of knowing when or if the latter’s role of Eminence Gris directing the school’s affairs from the shadows ever came to an end.

Today, there is increasing evidence of this sinister role of the Catholic laity in Catholic schools elsewhere. The example of Brother James Carragher above, for instance.

And there’s this account from Germany.

https://nypost.com/2020/12/22/nuns-were-pimps-for-sick-priests-says-sex-abuse-victim/

Five years ago, when I first started writing about my experience of the Ipswich Catholic laity, I was very much a lone voice, which could be easily dismissed. Then others came forward and related similar experiences. Once again, see ‘The shocking truth’.   Five years ago, I doubt this account of what happened in Catholic Germany and the central role of the laity– which is far from unique – could never have found its way into print. So the times are changing.

Returning to Ampleforth: personally, I have my doubts it will close, despite all the predictions. I believe it’s too important to the establishment – hence the media damage limitation exercises and the support of prominent Catholics like Rees-Mogg. But that could be because I’ve seen how the Catholic Diocese, the current St Joseph’s College, the De La Salle Order, and the Ipswich Catholic laity, including the Knights of St Columba, have all ignored the  testimonies from survivors on this site.  And have not been called to account. Yet.

It was also interesting seeing how the children of Ampleforth school have supported the current regime, handing in a letter to Number Ten, asking for the ban to be lifted. I’m sure St Joseph’s, past and present, would command similar loyalty and this may explain the silence of some who know what really went on in the past. But, like Ampleforth, it is misplaced.

These crimes are far too serious to put loyalty to the school and religion above the law of the land.

And inevitably, more  St Joseph’s survivors will come forward and at some point – as it dovetails with the endless new revelations of the crimes of the Catholic Church emerging every day  – there will be a new enquiry and all concerned will be fetched to give an account of themselves, just as happened at Ampleforth.

I watched Father Jamison, Abbot President, give evidence to IICSA and he was very smooth and convincing. But this was marred by what a survivor had told me about Jamison which painted a very different picture of him.

Similarly, I watched Cardinal Nichols – after being given a damning IICSA report – offer a very smooth and convincing apology to survivors. But this, too, was marred by how he reminded me so much of the three clerical abusers I knew as a child: Canon Burrows and Father Wace (St Pancras, Ipswich) and Father Jolly (Chaplain to St Joseph’s).  Nichols reminded me how smooth and convincing these abusers were under very different circumstances. It was also marred by knowing Nichols had covered up the infamous case of Father Quigley which comes under the category of current, not historic abuse.

I’m sure at an enquiry, representatives of the De La Salle order, the Diocese, the laity, and the current St Joseph’s will be equally convincing and wring their hands and plead so convincingly, ‘We never knew’.

I think I’d have more respect for them all if, instead of their pious and heartfelt lamentations, they told the truth, and admitted what they really think and say behind closed doors. Their view of me and fellow survivors, aka ‘troublemakers’, for exposing the truth about them. Namely: ‘Pat – shut the fuck up.’

Or, to put it in their establishment language, ’We all need to be singing from the same hymn sheet.’

No chance, I’m afraid. There’s more to come.