A Catholic order is engaged in an extraordinary legal stoush with women it employed to investigate child abuse, turning on a whistleblower after she alleged serious bullying by its leader and knowingly using an alleged child abuser as a star witness in a court case.
An ABC investigation has uncovered allegations by a group of women who claim severe bullying and intimidation by the province leader of the Sydney-based Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC), which runs four Australian schools.
At the same time, MSC was defending a historical child sexual abuse case in Victoria's Supreme Court, putting forward a priest and former school principal as a crucial witness without disclosing that there had been abuse allegations substantiated against him.
After that case was thrown out on appeal, MSC launched legal action against one of the women who alleged she had been bullied by the province leader, accusing her of leaking confidential information.
The behaviour by MSC's leadership has been reported to the highest levels in the Catholic Church, including the Pope's representative in Australia, but nothing has been done.
Now, those at the centre of the stoush have lost their faith and one has been left with a $500,000 legal bill she is unable to pay.
