CHURCH Doesn't Buy Sex Abuse Silence, Inquiry Told

9 News
May 3, 2013

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2013/05/03/17/31/church-doesn-t-buy-silence-vic-inquiry

The organisations in charge of compensating Victorian Catholics abused by clergy have denied trying to buy the silence of victims and say they have nothing to hide.

Between them the Melbourne Response and Towards Healing have dealt with more than 700 sexual abuse complaints and say they have the interests of victims at heart.

The organisations admitted at a Victorian parliamentary inquiry on Friday there have been mistakes, but said their job was to make recompense by compensating victims.

Melbourne Response compensation panel chairman David Curtain QC said he was for victims, not against them.

"It has been said that their silence has been bought and that is not the case," he said.

"I am not against them. My job is to assist them."

Mr Curtain said it was the compensation panel, not the victims, who were bound by confidentiality.

He admitted the church had failed to deal with the sex abuse scandal.

"There are cases where the church has failed," Mr Curtain said.

"There are cases where the church hasn't failed.

"There are occasions when there are repeat offenders and through the retrospective scope, looking in 2013 at what happened in the 70s or 80s, it is hard to believe that the people in charge didn't do anything and didn't know anything."

But he said the word of a priest was trusted in those days and they committed sex offences knowing that.

Towards Healing's Sister Angela Ryan said the church had been too slow to deal with abuse allegations in the past.

"I am deeply ashamed of the appalling actions and crimes of some church personnel," she told the inquiry.

"Unfortunately, as a church, we simply could not believe that a priest or religious could do such appalling things."

However, organisations such as Towards Healing had been transparent in their dealings with authorities.

"We have nothing to hide," Sister Ryan said.

She said she was sorry to hear that many witnesses before the inquiry had felt that apologies from Towards Healing were inadequate and in some cases had made matters worse.

"I believe we should be genuinely apologetic, and the church should accept that things have been done wrong and this should never have happened in our church," she said.

Towards Healing deals with compensation claims for the whole of Australia, while Melbourne Response covers complaints in the archdiocese of Melbourne.