Church Leaders Were ‘law Unto Themselves’, Says Perth Archbishop

By Angela Pownall
West Australian
February 23, 2017

https://thewest.com.au/news/australia/church-leaders-were-law-unto-themselves-says-perth-archbishop-ng-b88395224z

Archbishop Timothy Costelloe testifies at the royal commission yesterday.

Perth’s Catholic Archbishop says child sexual abuse took hold in the Church because the institution and its leaders were a “law unto themselves”.

Timothy Costelloe told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that a “catastrophic failure” in leadership led to widespread abuse and the Church’s “scandalously insufficient” response to it.

Giving evidence yesterday, he said bishops had behaved “almost like a little monarch in his own diocese” .

“The Church, in a sense, saw itself largely as ... a law unto itself; that it was somehow or other so special, so unique and so important it stood aside from the normal things that would be a part of any other body that works or exists in society,” he said.

“That’s probably the way many bishops in their own dioceses might also think of themselves, as a law unto themselves and not having to be answerable to anyone.

“I think that can trickle down then to the priest in the parish.”

At the royal commission’s 16th and final hearing into the Catholic Church, Archbishop Costelloe was questioned alongside Australia’s four other metropolitan archbishops; Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher, Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson, Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge and Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart.

Archbishop Fisher called the Church’s response to abuse allegations “a kind of criminal negligence”.

The hearing room was packed with spectators, many of them abuse victims. Some jeered the Church leaders as they gave evidence over two hours.

Chairman Peter McClellan repeatedly questioned Archbishop Costelloe on what the leadership failings were.

“It is one thing to deal with the illness, once the symptoms have emerged, but unless you address the leadership failure and understand why it happened, you won’t deal with the problem, will you?” Justice McClellan said.

Archbishop Costelloe said he had tried to change the culture in the Perth archdiocese and adopt a more consultative leadership style.

He admitted he had not publicly offered to meet victims and perhaps he should.

The commission released Church records this month showing almost one in 10 priests in the Perth archdiocese was accused of child sexual abuse between 1950 and 2010, higher than the national average of one in 14 priests.

Archbishop Costelloe said he was not surprised by the data. “Sometimes I get very discouraged because ... you know quite regularly, another complaint will come forward and you start to wonder just how extensive this is,” he said.