To Hell And Back

Margaret Harrod and her twin brother were inseparable as children and together they took vows and gave their lives to the Catholic Church. Then Margaret discovered her brother’s terrible secret, and her honesty and courage helped put him behind bars. Sue Smethurst reports.

There’s a special bond twins share, an unspoken connection, an intuition that can’t be easily put into words, a togetherness even when apart. Margaret Harrod shared that bond with her twin brother, Michael Aulsebrook. As toddlers they were inseparable, “joined at the hip” their mother would say. At primary school they sat side by side, as teenagers they shared the same friends and at 22, they gave their lives to the Catholic Church. Margaret became a nun and Michael a priest, bonded to God and one another for life.

Margaret cherishes those carefree memories because today her brother is in jail. Father Michael Aulsebrook is a convicted paedophile and the unlikely whistleblower was his courageous twin sister, who has spent the last decade fighting the Church and her family to bring her brother and other paedophile priests to justice.

The former nun has paid a heavy price, losing her faith, a brother she adored and her family who can’t accept their loved one’s crimes, but her only regret is that she didn’t find her voice sooner.

“Speaking up was the right thing to do – it was the only thing to do,” says Margaret, who is sharing the extraordinary story in her memoir, Blood on the Rosary. “It haunts me that if I’d spoken up when I first suspected something was going on, maybe I could’ve spared others abuse. I’ll live with that for the rest of my life, but at least I know he can no longer hurt anyone else.”

In March 1987, at age 31, Michael Aulsebrook was ordained in a lavish ceremony at a local church in Engadine, Sydney. Guests came from all over Australia to witness the weekend-long celebrations of dinners, special mass services and ceremonies. No expense was spared for the occasion and Michael was the pride and joy of his family.