AUSTRALIA
The Conversation
Judy Courtin
As the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into child abuse looms, Archbishop Denis Hart and three of his bishops have forewarned their Victorian flock of imminent disturbing reports about past failures of the Catholic church in responding to clergy sexual abuse.
His Grace and their Excellencies need to be brought up to date with the latest evidence from my research which shows that the “failures” of the church to respond to sexual assaults do not attract the past tense alone – they remain palpably current.
There has been an equally inadequate response by the Catholic church to the brutal physical assaults on children, which continue to be a source of distress for victims to this day.
Horrifying testimony
A few weeks ago in Ballarat, eight men gathered to get help with writing a group submission to the Victorian Inquiry. The issue of physical assaults was aired and it was distressing.
One man said:
He used to push my head down the toilet and hold it there by force until the toilet finished flushing.
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