AUSTRALIA
The Age
By Charisse Ede
From: AAP
September 21, 2012
THE Catholic Church in Victoria says it has upheld more than 600 cases of criminal child abuse by clergy in the past 16 years.
The church says the incidence of abuse has fallen dramatically since “appalling” numbers in the 1960s and 1970s and it has received very few complaints of abuse that has taken place since 1990.
Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart said sexual abuse in the Catholic Church was “shameful and shocking” and the church would fully co-operate with a Victorian parliamentary inquiry on child abuse.
He said the church’s inquiry submission, Facing the Truth, acknowledged the suffering endured by children who had been in the church’s care and the church renewed its apology to them.
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