- By a Broken Rites researcher, article posted on 17 September 2018
Father Brian John Morrison (born in Melbourne, 1933) was originally a Catholic priest in the Blessed Sacrament Fathers but he left this order and went to Western Australia, doing some parish work in the Perth and Bunbury dioceses. He finally established the "Father Brian Crisis Care Centre" in Perth, raising money for disaster relief (in East Timor etc). The church has received complaints about Father Morrison sexually abusing young people (a girl aged 14 in Melbourne in 1968 and a boy aged 14 in Perth in 1984).
Brian Morrison was born and bred in Melbourne (in St Joseph's parish, Malvern, in Melbourne's inner-east), where he was educated by the De La Salle Brothers. He died in 2009.
Brian Morrison started off as a member of the Blessed Sacrament Fathers but, for some reason, he evidently parted company with this order at some stage (probably some time before 1988).
He operated in Western Australia for many years. He did parish work in the Bunbury diocese in the 1970s and in the Perth diocese in the 1980s. His name vanished from the annual Directory of Australian Catholic Priests" in the 1990s (possibly working overseas) but he re-appeared in the directory in 2001, as a priest stationed at the Perth Cathedral.
Eventually he ran the ‘Father Brian Crisis Care Centre’ in West Perth. He specialised in "helping" in disaster relief – the Bali bombing, the Beslan massacre, East Timor etc. He raised money from businessmen for these causes. He said he had been involved in 23 of these disasters.
He was the "sporting chaplain to the West Australian racing industry".
On 17 September 2018, The Australian newspaper reported that two alleged victims of Father Brian Morrison are taking legal action against the Catholic Church. The newspaper said the alleged victims are represented by Canberra law firm Porters Lawyers, which placed an advertisement in a Perth newspaper, The West Australian , on 15 September 2018, calling for witnesses to Father Brian’s alleged abuse in the Archdiocese of Perth and the surrounding area.
“These victims were young children at the time of the abuse,” the legal firm said.
“Porters Lawyers wish to speak to any former parishioners, teachers, students or parents of students or parishioners who engaged with Father Brian Morrison from 1975 to 1990, to obtain further evidence that will assist our clients in their claims.”