Child Abuse Royal Commission to See Report Suppressed by Catholic Church

By Hamish Fitzsimmons
ABC News
February 22, 2017

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-22/report-suppressed-by-catholic-church-tabled-at-royal-commission/8294324

A report suppressed by the Catholic Church for more than a year will be tabled at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses into Child Sexual Abuse this week.

The 2015 report by former Federal Court judge Donnell Ryan QC is into the Church's compensation scheme for victims known as the Melbourne Response.

The scheme was set up in 1996 by then archbishop of Melbourne George Pell to assist people "who have been abused sexually, physically or emotionally by members of the Catholic Church".

The ABC has been told the report examines complaints by victims about the way their cases were handled as well as caps on payments to victims.

The Church said it would not release the report because it did not want to cause further distress to abuse victims, instead opting to give it to the royal commission.

Anthony Foster, two of whose children were abused by Father Kevin O'Donnell, said he hoped the report would be tabled in full.

"This is something that we've been waiting years for," he said.

"This is a three-year process at the end of a nearly 20-year process into trying to get changes to the Melbourne Response."