BishopAccountability.org

Coroner to Investigate Sex Abuse Deaths

By Mike Hedge
7 News
April 13, 2012

au.news.yahoo.com/latest/a/-/latest/13409727/coroner-to-investigate-sex-abuse-deaths/


[with video]

Melbourne's Catholic archbishop denies the church covered up sexual abuse by clergy, saying it has nothing to hide amid a possible coronial and wider inquiry.

A police report linking dozens of suicides to sexual abuse by clergymen will be passed on to the Victorian coroner for further investigation.

Senior police said the Catholic Church had a duty to report any allegations as soon as it became aware of them and in the past the church had often waited for victims to come forward to police.

But Archbishop Denis Hart said the church had fully cooperated with investigations.

"I reject absolutely the allegations that the Melbourne archdiocese has covered up crimes," he told reporters on Friday.

The church would cooperate fully with any inquiry, he said.

"We have nothing to hide. We remain very concerned about victims' right of privacy."

But a lawyer mounting a case for compensation against the church says the community would be horrified at the extent of sexual abuse likely to be revealed by an inquiry.

"There has been an epidemic of abuse going on for a long time and the church has shown a great reluctance to do anything about it," said Dr Vivian Waller, who represents 45 victims suing the church.

"The Christian Brothers were aware of the problem and they did nothing about it."

The police report lists the cases of at least 40 boys and young men who committed suicide in Victoria after being abused by convicted Catholic priest Robert Charles Best and former priest Gerald Ridsdale, and other clergy.

Deputy Police Commissioner Graham Ashton said a submission based on those reports would recommend that the coroner examine the suicides and the response of the church to both the abuse and its aftermath.

Mr Ashton said the Catholic Church appeared to have failed in its duty to report allegations of sexual abuse as soon as it became aware of them.

"It's not fair to say they've been holding things back in terms of things we've asked for, but we believe there's also an onus on the church that when they see matters to let us know about them," he said.

Archbishop Hart said the church encouraged abuse victims to go to police but respected their right to privacy.

Victims who did not wish to go to police were offered counselling, treatment and compensation.

"If a victim comes to us ... and they refuse to go to police we're caught in a difficult position," he said.

While he acknowledged that the church had failed some victims terribly in the past, Archbishop Hart denied there had been systemic failures in its response to abuse that had led to the suicides.

"I believe the whole trauma of the abuse and behaviour of the individuals who are the abusers have wrecked people's lives. It's been very difficult for us ... to arrest that," he said.

"That is a source of continued pain to me."

Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu says he is not yet ready to order an inquiry into the "very disturbing claims".

An inquiry into vulnerable children, headed by former Supreme Court judge Phillip Cummins, has called for further investigation of a variety of sexual abuse issues.




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