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Abstract: »The purpose of this research was to interview four Marist brothers and four former Marist brothers who had abused children to ascertain their understanding of the factors that contributed to the abuse. Interpretive phenomenological analysis was used as the methodology for the research, using semi-structured interviews. The findings were interpreted in the light of the reports of commissions of inquiry and psychological research. The findings supported the view that abuse by clerics is a complex phenomenon that involves personal, situational, organisational, and environmental factors. The results are consistent with the findings from published qualitative research with priests and brothers, and the data from commissions of inquiry, including the importance of opportunity as a significant factor in the abuse of children by clerics.
This is the first research project where the participants were all members of the same Roman Catholic religious order of brothers, and from the same country. The results were explored from the perspective of the vocation of brotherhood and, in particular, Marist brotherhood. St Marcellin Champagnat, the founder of the Marist Brothers, was opposed to physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and neglect, and established rules to prevent the abuse of children and to protect the brothers from the temptations of inappropriate behaviour. The regulations regarding relations with pupils and how to live a life of chastity from the time of the Founder until the mid-20th century were explored, especially the changes that took place at the time of Vatican II (1963–65) that led to significant developments in the theology and vocation of brothers in the Church. These developments enabled the Marist Brothers to respond to the abuse crisis by benefiting from insights from psychology and counselling, and from developments in theology, as well as by extending the mission and spirituality of the Marist Brothers to lay men and women.
The themes of guilt, shame, redemption, membership, identity, loss, and belonging were explored from the perspective of psychology. Moral injury was proposed as a concept that could be applied to victims, secondary victims, perpetrators, and bystanders, as all felt betrayed and lost trust in individuals in leadership and in the Church as an institution. One of the implications of this research is that clerical status is not a significant variable regarding the abuse of children by priests and brothers. The research also showed that individuals are able to build new lives and identities and live meaningful lives after discovery and imprisonment. Brotherhood as a value and (for some) an identity, continues to have validity whether they continue to live as Marist brothers, leave, or are dismissed from the Order« (Source: Thesis)

Contents:

	Abstract (p. 3)
	List of Tables (p. 9)
	List of Figures (p. 11)
	Acknowledgements (p. 12)
	Auhor’s Desclaration (p. 15)
	Chapter 1 Broken Brotherhood (p. 16)
		1.1 Introduction (p. 16)
		1.2 Locus as a Researcher (p. 17)
		1.3 What is Child Abuse? (p. 22)
		1.4 Sexual Abuse as a Complex Reality (p. 25)
			1.4.1 History of the Sexual Abuse of Children in the Catholic Church (p. 26)
			1.4.2 Child Sexual Abuse in the Recent History of the Catholic Church (p. 27)
		1.5 Clarification of the Terms Brother, Religious, and Cleric (p. 29)
			1.5.1 Brotherhood (p. 31)
			1.5.2 The Marist Brothers and the Australian Royal Commission (p. 34)
		1.6 The Use of Reports of Commissions of Inquiry in this Study (p. 35)
		1.7 The Current Study (p. 37)
			1.7.1 Summary of the Aims of this Research Study (p. 38)
			1.7.2 Broken Brotherhood (p. 39)
				1.7.2.1 The Participants’ Response to the Proposed Title “Broken Brotherhood” (p. 40)
			1.7.3 Moral Injury (p. 44)
		1.8 The Structure of the Dissertation (p. 45)
	Chapter 2 Reading the Research from the Perspective of Brotherhood and Marist Brotherhood (p. 47)
		2.1 Brotherhood in the New Testament (p. 48)
		2.2 The Monastic Origins of Religious Brotherhood and the Challenge of Celibacy (p. 52)
			2.2.1 Orders of Brothers (p. 54)
			2.2.2 The Foundation of the Marist Brothers (p. 54)
			2.2.3 Champagnat’s Brothers (p. 55)
		2.3 The Marist Project and the Care of Children (p. 57)
			2.3.1 The Experience of the Marist Institute after the Death of the Founder (p. 64)
		2.4 Vatican II and the Development of the Theology of Brotherhood (p. 69)
			2.4.1 Widening the Space of our Tent (p. 70)
			2.4.2 Fraternity and Brotherhood in the Church (p. 72)
			2.4.3 Gaudium et Spes (p. 73)
			2.4.4 Developments in the Understanding of the Identity and Mission of Brothers in the Church (p. 74)
		2.5 Summary and Conclusion (p. 76)
	Chapter 3 Demographic and Statistical Data Regarding Sexual Abuse by Catholic Priests and Brothers (p. 78)
		3.1 Sources of Prevalence Data on Child Abuse by Priests and Brothers (p. 78)
			3.1.1 Prevalence Data on Clerical Child Sexual Abuse (p. 80)
			3.1.2 Data on Clergy who Abused Children (p. 85)
		3.2 Prevalence of Abuse by Religious Brothers (p. 87)
			3.2.1 Australian Data (p. 87)
			3.2.2 Scottish Data (p. 91)
			3.2.3 Conclusion to Section on Prevalence Data About Religious Brothers (p. 95)
		3.3 Age and Gender of Victims (p. 96)
			3.3.1 Age and Gender Summary (p. 98)
		3.4 Sexual Deviance (p. 98)
			3.4.1 Paedophilia (p. 99)
			3.4.2 Ephebophilia (p. 102)
			3.4.3 Data from the Participants on Attraction to Younger Children (p. 104)
			3.4.4 Paraphilic Disorders (p. 107)
			3.4.5 Voyeurism (p. 108)
			3.4.6 Conclusion to Section on Sexual Deviance (p. 110)
		3.5 Clerical Offenders: An Atypical Group (p. 111)
		3.6 Conclusion and Summary (p. 113)
	Chapter 4 Methodology (p. 114)
		4.1 Qualitative Research (p. 114)
			4.1.1 Phenomenological Research (p. 117)
			4.1.2 Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) (p. 118)
			4.1.3 Features of IPA (p. 119)
			4.1.4 Double Hermeneutic (p. 120)
			4.1.5 Method (p. 121)
			4.1.6 Critique (p. 121)
		4.2 Insider Research (p. 122)
			4.2.1 Reflexivity and Subjectivity (p. 124)
			4.2.2 Values (p. 128)
			4.2.3 Where Do I Stand? (p. 129)
		4.3 Reliability and Validity (p. 129)
		4.4 The Participants (p. 132)
		4.5 The Interview as the Source of Data (p. 135)
			4.5.1 Interviews and IPA (p. 136)
			4.5.2 Preparing for the Interviews (p. 137)
			4.5.3 First Interviews: February 2020 (p. 137)
			4.5.4 Second Interviews: October 2022 (p. 139)
			4.5.5 Deception (p. 140)
		4.6 Practical Theology (p. 141)
		4.7 Summary and Conclusion (p. 144)
	Chapter 5 Findings: The Participant’ Experiences of Marist Brotherhood (p. 146)
		5.1 Vocation Story (p. 147)
			5.1.1 Approach Motivations (p. 147)
			5.1.2 Avoidance (p. 149)
		5.2 Positive and Negative Aspects of Marist Life (p. 150)
			5.2.1 Intimacy, Relationships, and Sport (p. 151)
		5.3 Positive Aspects of Marist life (p. 153)
			5.3.1 Experiences of Affirmation (p. 153)
			5.3.2 Mentoring (p. 154)
		5.4 Negative Marist Experiences (p. 155)
			5.4.1 Humiliation, Lack of Support (p. 155)
		5.5 Discovery, Arrest, and the Response of the Order (p. 156)
			5.5.1 Arrest (p. 156)
			5.5.2 Marist Response (p. 157)
		5.6 Loss of Marist Life and Ministry (p. 159)
			5.6.1 Identity and Belonging (p. 160)
			5.6.2 Ministry (p. 162)
			5.6.3 Loss of Achievement and the Good that was Done (p. 164)
		5.7 Marist Support (p. 166)
		5.8 Rejection and Painful Experiences (p. 171)
		5.9 Summary and Conclusion (p. 172)
	Chapter 6 Findings: Factors That Contributed to the Abuse of Children (p. 174)
		6.1 Personal Factors (p. 175)
			6.1.1 Adverse Childhood Events (p. 175)
			6.1.2 Delayed Development (p. 177)
			6.1.3 Victim of Sexual Abuse in Childhood (p. 180)
		6.2 Deficits (p. 182)
			6.2.1 Lack of Self-esteem (p. 182)
			6.2.2 Lack of Sexual Experience (p. 184)
			6.2.3 Lack of Affection (p. 185)
			6.2.4 Poor Boundaries (p. 187)
			6.2.5 Self-Regulation Difficulties (p. 188)
		6.3 Unmet Needs (p. 189)
			6.3.1 Desire for Touch/Cuddling (p. 190)
			6.3.2 Affection/Relationship (p. 191)
			6.3.3 Sexual Pleasure (p. 193)
		6.4 The Process of the Abuse (p. 197)
			6.4.1 Victim Initiative/Grooming (p. 197)
			6.4.2 Not Being Able to Stop, Feeling Driven (p. 199)
			6.4.3 “I Knew It Was Wrong” (p. 201)
			6.4.4 Uncomfortable Feelings (p. 202)
			6.4.5 Alcohol (p. 204)
		6.5 Rationalisations and Exculpatory Narratives (p. 205)
			6.5.1 Exculpatory Narratives (p. 206)
		6.6 Actual or Avoided Attempts to Seek Help (p. 210)
		6.7 Summary and Conclusion (p. 212)
	Chapter 7 Findings: The Marist Brothers as an Organisation, System, and Culture (p. 214)
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	Chapter 8 Reading the Findings Through the Lens of Psychological Research (p. 251)
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	Chapter 9 Discussion (p. 290)
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	Appendices (p. 329)
		Appendix 1: Ethics Approval (p. 329)
		Appendix 2: Response to Data Security Requirements (p. 331)
		Appendix 3: Letter to Participants (p. 334)
		Appendix 4: Consent to Participate/Agreement to the Processing of Data (p. 340)
		Appendix 5: Recording Agreement Form (p. 344)
		Appendix 6: Questionnaire Content (Description) (p. 346)
		Appendix 7: Comparison of General Offenders, Non-Clerical Sex Offenders and Clerical Sex Offenders on Ten Developmental Dimensions (p. 350)
	List of References (p. 353)
		1. Marist Documents (p. 353)
		2. Commissions of Inquiry and Reports (In alphabetical order by country) (p. 356)
			2.1 Australia (p. 356)
			2.2 Canada (p. 356)
			2.3 England and Wales (p. 357)
			2.4 France (p. 357)
			2.5 Germany (p. 357)
			2.6 Ireland (p. 358)
			2.7 The Netherlands (p. 359)
			2.8 New Zealand (p. 359)
			2.9 Portugal (p. 359)
			2.10 Scotland (p. 359)
			2.11 Spain (p. 360)
			2.12 United States of America (p. 361)
		3. Books, Chapters and Articles (p. 362)
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Wikipedia: History of Oceania: History of Australia | Catholic Church: Religious order (Catholic) / Marist Brothers | Catholic Church: Catholic Church in Australia / Catholic Church sexual abuse cases in Australia | Sex and the law: Child sexual abuse / Child sexual abuse in Australia