Marist Brothers lose bid to use paedophile’s death as shield against child abuse claims

Judge finds Australian Catholic order should not benefit from its ‘own inaction’ in not speaking to known abuser before he died

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A Catholic order has lost its latest attempt to use the death of a known paedophile clergy member to shield itself from allegations of child sexual abuse after a judge found that allowing such a course would “bring the administration of justice into disrepute”.

In recent months, the Guardian has revealed how the Catholic church, in particular its Marist Brothers and Christian Brothers orders, is increasingly using the deaths of clergy members to argue for permanent stays of cases brought by abuse survivors in the civil courts.

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