Bernard McGrath

Acting

Christchurch, New Zealand

Bernard Kevin McGrath is the most notorious paedophile in one of the most notorious Catholic religious orders in the world. McGrath is currently in a maximum security prison in Australia, serving a 39 year prison sentence for the sexual abuse of scores of young boys in Australia and New Zealand. His religious order, the Brothers of St John of God knew about McGrath's offending as far back as the 1970's but didn't report him to the police. Instead, they moved him from New Zealand to Australia and then to the United States in a desperate attempt to avoid police investigations. He was finally arrested in 1993 and has been in prison ever since. McGrath was one of many paedophiles in the Order of St John of God. His 2019 criminal trial was documented in the documentary series Revelation and presenter Sarah Ferguson interviewed McGrath inside the maximum security prison. During his interview, he confessed that the order had concealed his sexual abuse and named the superiors responsible for concealing his prolific abuse. The Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse found that over 40% of the Brothers of the Order of St John of God were alleged paedophiles.