THE Poor Sisters of Nazareth said last week that although they had made out-of-court financial settlements with alleged victims of sexual and physical abuse at the order’s former Brisbane orphanage, this was not an admission of guilt.
The former residents had been compensated only because they were in the sisters’ care, the congregation’s regional superior Sr Clare Breen said on August 30.
The offences, revealed late last month, are alleged to have occurred at Nazareth House, Wynnum in the 1950s and 1960s. The last children were admitted to the orphanage in 1981.
The former residents alleged rape with a flag pole by a sister who said she was trying to drive the devil from the child. Others have alleged rape by two priests and there have been accusations of beatings, bad food and of children being forced to eat faeces and vomit.
The sisters have agreed to out-of-court settlements of up to $75,000 each to 16 women and one man.
Brisbane archdiocesan chancellor Fr James Spence, in Archbishop John Bathersby’s absence, said on August 28 the archdiocese acknowledged with deep regret the distress felt by former Nazareth House residents.
