The Christian Brothers Spent Billions Hiding Assets For $1—Now They Are Funding Abusers
The issue
A Broken Childhood and the Fight for Justice.
At 14 years old, my childhood innocence was violently taken from me at St Patrick’s Boarding School in Ballarat. The predator who raped and molested me was Donald Pascal Alford—an unchecked monster who targeted dozens of innocent boys across Geelong, Ballarat, and the United States.The law and the Catholic Church knew exactly what this evil man was and what he was capable of doing. Yet, they actively tried to hide his records which my lawyer found, they shielded him from criminal charges, and allowed him to continue destroying young lives. Because of their protection, Alford was permitted to die of old age in a warm bed, having never spent a single day in a prison cell.My civil trial against the church was locked in for this November. But instead of facing a courtroom, the Trustees of the Christian Brothers filed a Supreme Court bankruptcy scheme, freezing our trials and choking out our voices.
The Devious "James Hardie" Playbook Exposed.
They ran a carbon-copy of the infamous James Hardie corporate playbook. Starting in 2007, they systematically transferred an estimated $2.28 billion in valuable, elite private school properties—including St Kevin's College in Toorak, St Joseph's College in Geelong, and Parade College in Bundoora—over to a separate trust, Edmund Rice Education Australia (EREA), for nominal, unrealistic sale prices of just $1 each. They did this to deliberately empty their bank accounts so they could cry poor in front of a judge and dodge paying compensation to survivors. Because Arnold Thomas and Becker whom I'm lucky enough to be represented by and some other firms , myself, other members the public, and independent investigative journalists raised an uproar they could not ignore, the Edmund Rice Foundation will be signing a Memorandum of Understanding to back their liabilities in September. But they only backed down because they got caught.The fact that this devious scheme was even proposed proves the absolute moral corruption of both the church and the legal system. They tried to build a corporate trap to bypass judges, ignore individual suffering, and shield their wealth to protect their financial assets and public face. If they had gotten away with it, they would have set a catastrophic national precedent allowing every wealthy religious group in Australia to use insolvency laws to permanently escape the courtroom.
The Grotesque Double Standard: Abusers vs. Victims
Look at the pure evil of their financial priorities: The church has abruptly cut off the funding for my vital rehabilitation sessions with my forensic psychologist, Nick Smith, alongside the mental healthcare of other victims they created.Yet, court documents unsealed in the Supreme Court reveal that the Christian Brothers continue to fully bankroll the comfortable lifestyles, housing, and medical healthcare of over 100 known perpetrators and abusers within their own religious order—including convicted child abusers like Kevin John Lynch, Francis "Frank" Cable, and John Baptist "Jack" McGoldrick—under the disgraceful guise of a "Gospel imperative to care for their own". They protect active abusers while starving the victims those abusers broke.Furthermore, the legal system is completely failing us. The Office of Public Prosecutions (OPP) Victoria has failed miserably by dismantling their specialized sexual abuse unit, creating massive bureaucratic delays that let pedophiles die of old age before ever facing a Justice.
The Personal Cost and My Message to Carly.
The emotional cost has been catastrophic, and it is a shadow that followed me straight into my adult life. I have lived without a family ever since the abuse. When those 30 years of buried emotions finally broke through, the overwhelming weight caused severe trust and abandonment issues that poisoned my relationships.
The only two people who ever gave me the strength to stand up and fight back were my closest friend and brother, Shane "Boof" Osbaldestin, and my wife, Carly. Today, I stand entirely alone. Boof was tragically taken from me 18 months ago due to Covid medical complications. And Carly—the only person who ever showed me what love was—is separated from me. I am deeply, profoundly sorry for the mistakes I made and the disrespect I showed you . My unhealed childhood traumas brought back emotions I didn't know how to handle, putting an unbearable strain on our relationship. I take 100% unconditional responsibility for my faults. I only hope you are safe and happy, I would do anything to have the opportunity to repair our marriage and will love you until my final breath.
I have a checkered past. I have made wrong decisions and I have spent time in jail (3 month period). I am not making excuses—I am explaining the real-world, generational destruction of institutional child abuse. I am doing everything in my power to change, to fix my faults, and to heal so I can become the best version of myself by talking to my forensic psychologist for as long as it takes.
Why I Am Fighting.
I have survived nearly losing my life seven separate times. I have woken up in hospital beds where surgeons were amazed I was even breathing, let alone walking. I always questioned why I survived? why this fire inside me has been burning for all these years?
I am using the tenacity and drive that kept me alive through hell to fight this corporate machine. I am doing this for myself, but more importantly, for the survivors who don't have the strength left to fight.
I am completely refusing their hush money.
I will never sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement to bury their crimes, which they pressure so many victims to do.
When I win my Supreme Court trial, I am taking their money to start a nationwide non-profit foundation to buy an acreage sanctuary property on the Frasier Coast in Queensland so other survivors can find peace and be protected while navigating the brutal court process.
Please Sign This Petition to Demand:
The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) launch an immediate statutory audit into the asset shifting of the Christian Brothers and permanently strip both entities of their tax-exempt status for using charitable funds to support known abusers over victim healthcare.
The Federal Attorney-General step in to permanently ban corporate restructuring and bankruptcy maneuvers from being used by religious institutions to block historical child abuse trials.
The Victorian Government launch an immediate investigation into the Office of Public Prosecutions (OPP) regarding the catastrophic delays in prosecuting known historical child abuse perpetrators.
They took my childhood, they took my family, and they tried to silence me to take my justice.
Sign, share, and stand with me to end this corruption.
Thanks Hudson Cruze.
65
The issue
A Broken Childhood and the Fight for Justice.
At 14 years old, my childhood innocence was violently taken from me at St Patrick’s Boarding School in Ballarat. The predator who raped and molested me was Donald Pascal Alford—an unchecked monster who targeted dozens of innocent boys across Geelong, Ballarat, and the United States.The law and the Catholic Church knew exactly what this evil man was and what he was capable of doing. Yet, they actively tried to hide his records which my lawyer found, they shielded him from criminal charges, and allowed him to continue destroying young lives. Because of their protection, Alford was permitted to die of old age in a warm bed, having never spent a single day in a prison cell.My civil trial against the church was locked in for this November. But instead of facing a courtroom, the Trustees of the Christian Brothers filed a Supreme Court bankruptcy scheme, freezing our trials and choking out our voices.
The Devious "James Hardie" Playbook Exposed.
They ran a carbon-copy of the infamous James Hardie corporate playbook. Starting in 2007, they systematically transferred an estimated $2.28 billion in valuable, elite private school properties—including St Kevin's College in Toorak, St Joseph's College in Geelong, and Parade College in Bundoora—over to a separate trust, Edmund Rice Education Australia (EREA), for nominal, unrealistic sale prices of just $1 each. They did this to deliberately empty their bank accounts so they could cry poor in front of a judge and dodge paying compensation to survivors. Because Arnold Thomas and Becker whom I'm lucky enough to be represented by and some other firms , myself, other members the public, and independent investigative journalists raised an uproar they could not ignore, the Edmund Rice Foundation will be signing a Memorandum of Understanding to back their liabilities in September. But they only backed down because they got caught.The fact that this devious scheme was even proposed proves the absolute moral corruption of both the church and the legal system. They tried to build a corporate trap to bypass judges, ignore individual suffering, and shield their wealth to protect their financial assets and public face. If they had gotten away with it, they would have set a catastrophic national precedent allowing every wealthy religious group in Australia to use insolvency laws to permanently escape the courtroom.
The Grotesque Double Standard: Abusers vs. Victims
Look at the pure evil of their financial priorities: The church has abruptly cut off the funding for my vital rehabilitation sessions with my forensic psychologist, Nick Smith, alongside the mental healthcare of other victims they created.Yet, court documents unsealed in the Supreme Court reveal that the Christian Brothers continue to fully bankroll the comfortable lifestyles, housing, and medical healthcare of over 100 known perpetrators and abusers within their own religious order—including convicted child abusers like Kevin John Lynch, Francis "Frank" Cable, and John Baptist "Jack" McGoldrick—under the disgraceful guise of a "Gospel imperative to care for their own". They protect active abusers while starving the victims those abusers broke.Furthermore, the legal system is completely failing us. The Office of Public Prosecutions (OPP) Victoria has failed miserably by dismantling their specialized sexual abuse unit, creating massive bureaucratic delays that let pedophiles die of old age before ever facing a Justice.
The Personal Cost and My Message to Carly.
The emotional cost has been catastrophic, and it is a shadow that followed me straight into my adult life. I have lived without a family ever since the abuse. When those 30 years of buried emotions finally broke through, the overwhelming weight caused severe trust and abandonment issues that poisoned my relationships.
The only two people who ever gave me the strength to stand up and fight back were my closest friend and brother, Shane "Boof" Osbaldestin, and my wife, Carly. Today, I stand entirely alone. Boof was tragically taken from me 18 months ago due to Covid medical complications. And Carly—the only person who ever showed me what love was—is separated from me. I am deeply, profoundly sorry for the mistakes I made and the disrespect I showed you . My unhealed childhood traumas brought back emotions I didn't know how to handle, putting an unbearable strain on our relationship. I take 100% unconditional responsibility for my faults. I only hope you are safe and happy, I would do anything to have the opportunity to repair our marriage and will love you until my final breath.
I have a checkered past. I have made wrong decisions and I have spent time in jail (3 month period). I am not making excuses—I am explaining the real-world, generational destruction of institutional child abuse. I am doing everything in my power to change, to fix my faults, and to heal so I can become the best version of myself by talking to my forensic psychologist for as long as it takes.
Why I Am Fighting.
I have survived nearly losing my life seven separate times. I have woken up in hospital beds where surgeons were amazed I was even breathing, let alone walking. I always questioned why I survived? why this fire inside me has been burning for all these years?
I am using the tenacity and drive that kept me alive through hell to fight this corporate machine. I am doing this for myself, but more importantly, for the survivors who don't have the strength left to fight.
I am completely refusing their hush money.
I will never sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement to bury their crimes, which they pressure so many victims to do.
When I win my Supreme Court trial, I am taking their money to start a nationwide non-profit foundation to buy an acreage sanctuary property on the Frasier Coast in Queensland so other survivors can find peace and be protected while navigating the brutal court process.
Please Sign This Petition to Demand:
The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) launch an immediate statutory audit into the asset shifting of the Christian Brothers and permanently strip both entities of their tax-exempt status for using charitable funds to support known abusers over victim healthcare.
The Federal Attorney-General step in to permanently ban corporate restructuring and bankruptcy maneuvers from being used by religious institutions to block historical child abuse trials.
The Victorian Government launch an immediate investigation into the Office of Public Prosecutions (OPP) regarding the catastrophic delays in prosecuting known historical child abuse perpetrators.
They took my childhood, they took my family, and they tried to silence me to take my justice.
Sign, share, and stand with me to end this corruption.
Thanks Hudson Cruze.
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Petition created on 25 July 2026