AUSTRALIA
ABC – 7.30
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 17/07/2012
Reporter: Leigh Sales
An independent inquiry in to sex abuse in two New South Wales dioceses was announced by the Catholic Church today, and Father Frank Brennan joins us to discuss how the Church handles these processes.
Transcript
LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: The Catholic Church has announced that the former Federal Court judge Anthony Whitlam QC will head an independent inquiry into the case of the defrocked priest known as Father F. As you may recall from stories on this program, Father F is accuse of abusing altar boys in the 1980s, some of whom later committed suicide. The Church has given conflicting accounts of what he later admitted to the Catholic hierarchy and why none of them went to the police.
In a moment we’ll hear from the man Paul Keating once labelled “the meddling priest”, Jesuit and human rights lawyer Father Frank Brennan for his views on how the case has been handled so far. But first, here’s a reminder of some of the victims’ stories.
VICTIM’S RELATIVE: I mean, when Damian admitted to a psychiatrist that he’d been sexually abused by a priest, it was their obligation to go to the police.
VICTIM’S RELATIVE II: I think it’s quite disgusting how they close it all – yeah, they hide it! You know, they close ranks, they pass the buck, most definitely. You know, if one can’t help the victim it’s palmed off to someone else. – never to the police though. The police never seem to be the ones that get told.
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