The Priests

by James M. Miller

James Miller grew up in Newcastle and attended St Pius X secondary College from 1978. A keen surfer and gifted academically, he soon drew the attentions of Principal Father Brennan
and deputy Father Helferty. Aided by his deputy, Brennan wielded his authority to find many occasions to see James alone and sexually abuse him, transforming James’s naturally sunny easy-going disposition into one wracked with self-loathing and shame.

Confused and bewildered by what is happening, James begins drinking and secretly self-harming. The influence of the Catholic Church and Father Brennan within the local community is such that James is unable to escape him, even after a decade in Sydney where his marriage crumbled. His wife and young daughter moved back to Newcastle and James followed. His final plan to help himself is to become so successful that he can move away from Newcastle and out of the clutches of the predatory men. He joins prestigious chambers in Sydney as a barrister. However, his internal life is a wreck. Terrified that someone will find out his secret shame, he develops a deep-seated paranoia and a serious substance abuse problem.

Out of the blue he is asked to make a statement in criminal proceedings against a serial paedophile priest who was protected by Father Brennan, at St Pius X. Horrified, James knows that if he appears at the trial, he would be forced to reveal what happened to him. To make matter worse, he is then contacted by Brennan himself, who demands James’s help in his own defence of related charges. Faced with this dilemma, James had a breakdown, eventually losing his job and becomes homeless, before finding the internal fortitude to resurrect himself and his life. In 2015 he began a lawsuit against the Newcastle-Maitland Diocese.

This is a powerful and gripping personal story by an educated, articulate man about the long
term and far-reaching damage sexual abuse can inflict on a human soul. It is also a riveting
expose of the context and conditions of the Church which allowed child sexual abuse to flourish worldwide and particularly in the Newcastle region, which has been described as an epicentre of the sexual abuse epidemic in Australia between the 1960s and 1980s.

Genres: Biography

256 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 1, 2016

Reviews

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A publishing editor once said to me, "You have to make someone want to pay $29.95 to read your story." Well, I did and I don't regret it. The account of Miller's abuse at the hands of a priest and the ongoing effects give us a privileged insight into many of the cases that have before the recent Royal Commission whose voices, unlike Miller's, have not been heard. James Miller has been very courageous in exposing himself as well as the Catholic church, its cover-ups and conspiracies to prevent the revelation of decades of abuse by priests. He provides clarification of the Catholic church's history to explain, but nor excuse, how this abuse could have been allowed to happen, and for a non-Catholic atheist such a myself, this was very useful. I particularly like his analysis of Pope Benedict's "moral absolutes".

However this is a very uneven book, both in content and style. I am surprised that Miller's editor did not suggest he adopt a more fluid style instead of the staccato simple sentences beginning with "I" - the first lesson in memoir writing. A good editor could have corrected this without compromising on the immediacy of the story. Similarly, there are numerous copy editing errors which should not have escaped scrutiny. This book is reminder that an established author and academic, such as James Miller, can always benefit from a critical eye.

The book is bottom heavy, with a lot of information about Miller's early adult life, following the abuse at his Catholic high school. While it is mildly interesting to go on this journey with him, there has been little time left for the other aspects of his life, such as his mental illness, that were a consequence of the trauma of the abuse. He glosses over his homelessness that could have been as powerful as George Orwell's "Down and Out in Paris and London", but was dismissed in a few pages. Nor is there any mention of him being struck off as a barrister although the NSW Bar Association noted his "health problems" (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decisi...). He could have given greater weight to his case by disclosing this development in his life. I was hoping that the last 20 pages of this book would describe some resolution, perhaps according to the work of Abraham Maslow whose work Miller cites. Unfortunately this didn't happen, and this book, like so many personal stories, loses momentum as the author strives to finish it.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was a student at St Pius X at the same time as James Miller. I vaguely remember him as being fairly unpleasant and a bit of a bully but if his story here is true then I'm very sorry about it.

St Pius X was a fairly awful school with rampant bullying and quite a few sadistic teachers who caned us whenever they got a chance for any sort of minor infraction. And now it seems that a few of the teachers were pedophiles as well. I was glad to see the back of the place.

One of our teachers, Fr Denham, is in jail for sex crimes against children. Another is in court soon for similar offenses. I'm not surprised at all. They both seemed sick to me at the time. However, this book makes serious accusations against two other priests who are now dead. I found both men to be decent people. The Fr Brennan in this book seems to only share a name with the Fr Brennan that I knew in real life. I don't recognize him at all. I'm not saying that what James says in the book didn't happen. How would I know? But something seems off.

[Simon McLean]

The Homo-Erotic musings of a school bully who started and relished in his role as a co-ordinator of 'Fight Club' where he and his mates threatened young boys with violence if they didn't punch out a weaker peer. The assertions of being academically blessed and a surfing legend are unfounded as he was in a lower class at high school than me and in his book accuses my peers in the A class of being 'overtly homosexual'. Funny in a dark way as that's what we thought of Jim and his special friends, but we wouldn't be so stupid as to publish it (until now). The rubbish and hurt contained in this book is worth the price just to chuck it in the bin. I did. Easy to make claim on the dead. Hey Jim, why the long face? Beware, potential readers.., this is evil fiction at its extreme. If this had happened as Jim tells it, we all would have known, The priests in his story may have had faults, but Jim's money grubbing attempt at writing a somewhat incoherent book is an embarrassment to all of us who had to deal with his selfishness and violence; oh and conveniently he doesn't remember his teacher's names. Excuse me while I spit. Go to confession James M Miller. Rev SF McLean.

[Mebsie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ummmm. This book was illuminating, opening the lid as it does on the abuse of children by Catholic priests. I am not sure what I expected but it was definitely worse and insightful into the long term effects of such abuse.