Christian Brothers kept nine child abusers in religious order due to Gospel imperative to help ‘the needy’, court documents reveal

The Christian Brothers has obtained a moratorium on all current and future civil claims by child abuse survivors, throwing dozens of pending trials into chaos and halting hundreds more cases. Composite: Guardian Design View image in fullscreen The Christian Brothers has obtained a moratorium on all current and future civil claims by child abuse survivors, throwing dozens of pending trials into chaos and halting hundreds more cases. Composite: Guardian Design Christian Brothers kept nine child abusers in religious order due to Gospel imperative to help ‘the needy’, court documents reveal Exclusive: Documents also show the Catholic order sought financial support from the Holy See months before it declared it lacked money to pay survivors Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The Christian Brothers has deliberately kept nine convicted child abusers, one who is currently behind bars, as members of its religious order because it says it has a “Gospel imperative” to “care for all Brothers” and “the needy”. Court documents also reveal the head of Christian Brothers Oceania met with representatives of the Holy See in an attempt to obtain support six months before it declared it was going broke and could not afford to meet abuse claims from survivors, but received no financial assistance. The Christian Brothers on Thursday obtained a moratorium on all current and future civil claims by abuse survivors, throwing dozens of pending trials into chaos and halting hundreds more cases in their tracks. The order says it is about to go broke and cannot afford to meet the claims of survivors. It is instead proposing a scheme that would sell off its remaining property, worth about $217m, and divide the proceeds to pay out survivors. Curtis waited 60 years for justice over alleged abuse. The Christian Brothers’ legal moratorium will see the trial abandoned Read more An affidavit filed by Brother Gerard John Brady, the head of the Christian Brothers Oceania province, told the court that it had about 176 brothers still in the order, most of which were in Australia. Nine of those are convicted child sex offenders. One is behind bars. More current brothers had been accused of child abuse. Br Brady said the order’s Oceania leadership team had made a decision to keep them in the order as brothers. “While dismissal of an offender from the Christian Brothers is an option open to us, I believe that it is not always the appropriate response,” he said. “Accommodating known sex-offenders in the wider community following their discharge remains a difficult issue for society. The [Oceania leadership team] believes that the Christian Brothers have obligations both to the wider community and to the offender.” He said that offenders would become a “burden for taxpayers to shoulder” if they were moved out into society, because they often have no means of financial support. The leadership team also took the v