Brother Kiern is described below by an Old Boy of Oak Hill. Kiern was on temporary secondment to Oak Hill, maybe that’s why we haven’t heard of him before. But making children play PE and swim in the nude is very disturbing.
The Old Boy also indicates Kiern was unpredictably violent and had other ‘abnormalities’.
If anyone has anything to add on this man it could be relevant and I’ll certainly pass it onto the SCOE Safeguarding people – although I’ve yet to receive a reply and discover what current progress they are making.
Brother Kevin may have been absent in 86/87 when he went to France to escape justice. Part of the De La Salle Rat Run that has been discussed on an earlier blog.
If Safeguarding are trying to ignore us all that would be a mistake because I’m not giving up until the De La Salles have properly acknowledged their crimes and publicly hung their heads in shame.
A terse ‘sorry for whatever’ posted rather late on an obscure website doesn’t cut it and they should know it.
| Hello Pat, I was in the same year as Zach, we were friends and partners in crime (small fish). What surprises me is that the worst abuser in our time at ‘Oak Hill’ has not been mentioned nor hinted at. Bro Kevin was absent in 1986/1987 for at least a term but a certain Brother (Bro Kiern as I recall, but Mercado fits the bill) was present and his abnormalities and penchants were manifested in unpredictable violence (Bro Kevin was a disciplinarian within ‘reason’) and making us boys play PE and swim in the nude. This temporary clerical staff member was a monster in look and action, yet he has not even been hinted at in your survivors testimonies. Bro John was not violent, rather indolent and lazy (as a teacher). Mr Mack was a violent man who beat me on my first night (aged 8) for having the temerity to question the cooks expertise. I suffered insomnia at Oak Hill and Bro Kevin used to find me late at night on the landing and invite me to his rooms in the tower where we would discuss religion.literature and high fantasy, he didn’t abuse me sexually then (though he did beat me often in public; I was and still am a rebel). Unlike you and some others I am a Catholic yet. I see things through the lense of humanity. Nobody is Perfect. Not me, not you, not the clergy. That is the whole point in Catholic faith learned the hard way, it is a human and living faith. Everyone falls short but love, truth, wisdom and faith overcomes all of the BS. |
Pat Mills 
The spelling is questionable, I believe it was Kieren and he was a temp in the summer of 86. Violent man.
That sounds about right. There are many variations of spelling and his began with a ‘K’; here in Ireland it’s more common with a ‘C’. At least with Bro Kevin or others you were told why before they beat you. With Bro Kieran it was random and he went for the face rather than legs or backside. He poisoned the pond.
Bro Kiern is the name that is fixed in my memory but I could be wrong. He was the youngest looking Brother I can recall from my years at St Josephs. He was slim, of middling height, dark receding hair and an angry gaunt face with ruddy cheeks. When Bro Kevin returned to the school this other left (It seemed to me that they didn’t get on together).
The nude sports was an after school activity. The day boys didn’t do it. Brother Kevin put an end to it on the playing pitches but allowed it for a few more weeks in the swimming pool because it had become popular (there seemed to the juvenile mind a freedom in it).
Btw by pure coincidence Paul Wilkins was my English teacher up to A Level in my school in N Ireland. We became good friends and drinking companions. He passed away in 2007 from lung cancer and now rests in Derry City cemetery. He had the biggest funeral I have been to; the cathedral was standing room only with a bishop and close to a dozen priests officiating. Not bad for an open homosexual, atheist and socialist tbh.
Many thanks. It feels to me like you’ve got it right. This Brother Kiern may still be alive and I will certainly draw Catholic Safeguarding’s attention to it as it’s the most blatant abuse. Of course as kids we would think it was great, unaware of how the adult is getting off on it. I was interested to hear about Paul Wilkins – with the whole Catholic establishment endorsing him. I know Irish funerals are big, but that’s astonishing!
It is an odd sounding name. Assuming you are correct, his actions – whatever he is really called – need to be made public. The fact that he was only there temporarily may be relevant. He may not be officially listed. He certainly is an horrendous abuser. The poster is clearly sincere in his allegation and is actually pro-Catholic.
I am certain there was/is not a Brother Kiern. Was there a Brother Kieron at Oak Hill School?
I was thinking the same thing myself. The previous writer was certain there was no Brother Kiern. My feeling was that either of you may know the full complement of De La Salle brothers at that time and recognise if there is a similar name. But would either of you really know about TEMPORARY staff? Especially if it was just one term…? But abusers can do a lot of harm in just a few weeks and then they are gone. For example, there was the sexually abusive Father Gonnet at St Marks, Chantry, Ipswich on temporary secondment/ extended holiday in my youth. But I’ll lay money if the records were checked the Church would say today they have no record of him. But the damage he did to me was considerable, even though it was ‘just a few weeks’. Worse, why was a young French priest Gonnet leaving France to have a holiday on a council estate in an industrial town? When clerics are just temporarily on secondment, it can be because they are running away from their crimes and don’t care what they get up to in a foreign town or other school. Thus Brother Kevin and Brother Solomon both used the De La Salle Rat Run – to Jersey in Solomon’s case. And France in Kevin’s case. Children in both those locations were certainly at risk. So I take this case of Brother Kiern as ‘the worst abuser’ very seriously. Even if his name does turn out differently, a De La Salle brother was harming children at this time and he was not one of ‘the usual suspects’. The writer’s sincere Catholicism suggests he would not make this allegation unless there was a very serious case involved. Here’s hoping someone can shed more light on this criminal.
In reply Pat, if Brother Kiern was at the school for just one term then that may well be correct name wise. I wouldn’t know. I think that there was a Brother Kieron in the Brothers of the London District but I’ve no idea where he was stationed.
To my certain knowledge there was and is no Brother Kiern Great care should be taken on names.
Christopher Lane