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Austrian Catholic Church to Compensate Victims of Sexual Abuse

New Europe
April 19, 2012

http://www.neurope.eu/article/austrian-catholic-church-compensate-victims-sexual-abuse



Two years ago a commission in charge of investigating allegations of misconduct sexual and abuse by Catholic clergy was established in Austria and finally they unveiled the results.

The commission dedicated ˆ8 million from a compensation fund set up by the Austrian Catholic Church for compensating victims in cases they found to be merited.

Some 702 cases, sometimes dating back to 1960s, were examined, and out of 1,244 complainants, nearly two thirds alleged sexual abuse and four out of five victims were younger than 13, nearly a third younger than 10 at the time when abuses were conducted. More than three quarters of all claimants were men and on average the abuse lasted for four years.

Commission found merits of complains in 613 cases and allocated ˆ8 million in damages to the victims. In addition to financial damages, the commission also awarded over 23,000 hours of therapy to abuse victims.

Commission chairwoman Waltraud Klasnic from the centre-right Austrian People's Party said that Austrian society has "broken through the wall of silence".

The commission was set up by Vienna's archbishop, Cardinal Christoph Schonborn, following countless allegations of sexual abuse, who insisted on an independent, secular mandate for investigating claims.

Schonborn is widely regarded as a different face of the Catholic Church. Earlier in April this year, he overruled a decision of a Vienna priest to exclude an active homosexual from a parish council.

 

 

 

 

 




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