THE mother of two sons sexually abused at St Patrick's College in the 1970s said she was given $300 to leave town and offered hush money following a court case. The woman, who cannot be named, said her sons were molested while students at the Ballarat school in the 1970s.
The woman said she encouraged her sons to go to the police after they confided to her in 1991.
Following the revelations the woman was desperate to leave Ballarat.
She asked the Catholic Church for a loan and they gave her a $300 donation to help her leave.
"I had gone through too much and I wanted to get out of town,'' she said.
"They knew that I was the enemy to them,'' she said.
"They were frightened if I was going to open up and tell the world.''
Following a court case involving Christian brother Edward Vernon Dowlan, who was convicted of abusing one of the woman's sons, she sued the church claiming she had suffered injury as a result of being informed of the abuse.
In 2000, the church offered to settle on condition that she sign an agreement which would prevent her making any further claims.
Conditions of the agreement included that she keep the amount of settlement and the negotiations confidential.
But the woman refused to sign.
"I don't want that money, I'd rather die in poverty,'' she said.
Despite being brought up a Catholic the woman, who now lives in NSW, said she "hated'' the church. "They don't care,'' she said.
Catholic Bishop of Ballarat Peter Connors yesterday said the events were "before his time" and he was unable to comment.
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