Students at private Sydney school taught masturbation is a disorder, pornography puts holes in your brain
Inside the suburban schools attended by members of the political elite, where sexual purity is prized.
"The teacher said to us, 'That's what happens to you when you have sex before marriage, when you have multiple partners. You're not useful anymore, you're not valuable anymore, you're not worthwhile anymore because you're dirty and unusable'."Isabella, who graduated from school in 2020 but left Tangara earlier because of her experiences there, purses her lips and looks at the ceiling.
"The allegations should be investigated by the appropriate state body," a spokesperson for the premier said.Mr Perrottet was school captain at Redfield College in 2000. Many staffers and candidates for pre-selection for the NSW Liberal government also went to the schools and have been involved in this community.
The premier did not respond to any of Four Corners' specific questions about the schools or Opus Dei.Along with the schools' strict teachings around sexual purity, one of the most persistent allegations from graduates and some parents is that they were discouraged by Tangara from getting the HPV cervical cancer vaccine.
At a subsequent school meeting, Helen was horrified to hear the speakers discouraging the vaccine on the grounds that the girls wouldn't need it because they would only have one sexual partner. "I raised the very valid point with her that I could get this virus from my husband, which of course fell on deaf ears.That teacher is still working for a school run by the Pared Foundation, which oversees Tangara and Redfield, among other schools.
Redfield Old Boy Simon Carrington is a popular chastity speaker at the schools who talks about abstaining from sex before marriage and the dangers of pornography and masturbation. His Fire Up Ministries website is currently endorsed by the principals of Tangara and senior staff at Redfield. "Following the video, many of my classmates and myself included were in tears, distraught and traumatised from the experience," 'Sophie', a graduate of the class of 2020 wrote in a testimonial for Four Corners."It was emotive stuff. I was watching it thinking, 'Well, this isn't true. This isn't how it happens. This is completely incorrect.'"
Tangara alumni who graduated as recently as 2021 told Four Corners they were taught the story of St Maria Goretti in either late primary school or early high school. In a video of Year 8 Tangara girls, filmed for their future selves when they graduate Year 12, the dominant focus is on keeping their virginal purity."You should respect yourself and not be a slut," one of the Year 8 students says, to a chorus of laughter.
Professor Clare Monagle is a theological historian at Macquarie University and her uncle was one of the founding parents who set up the schools connected to Opus Dei. Tim Pocock is a graduate of the Redfield class of 2003 and is now an actor who appears in films, including one of the X-Men series. "It is cruelly ironic that Redfield's Latin school motto translates to 'the truth will set you free'," Jeremy says.
Numeraries are celibate members of the organisation who live in study centres, while supernumeraries are married members of Opus Dei."I basically spent my years at Tangara trying to not be converted," says Sam Green.After school, he and other students would go to the study centres where many of the numeraries lived, Eremeran for the girls and Nairana for the boys.
"There were comments about what some of his weaknesses were, and maybe what overall strengths he could offer as a, I guess recruit; I can't think of a better word, recruit is really the right word here," he says.Alex was a 16-year-old student at Tangara when she was encouraged to join Opus Dei by a senior teacher who was also a numerary.
"We were really encouraged to have a list so every month that you could report back on what you'd actually done with those people individually. "I think it was the idea that if it didn't hurt, what was the point?" Alex says. "If it didn't hurt, what kind of graces were you winning for your sisters in Opus Dei, or the people that you were praying for to join Opus Dei?"
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