AUSTRALIA
7 News
Adam Walters, 7News Sydney
Updated November 16, 2012
EXCLUSIVE: If you thought the Catholic Church has been literally paying dearly for the sins of its clergy, you’d be mistaken.
A new scandal is brewing for the Catholic Church with claims victims of sexual abuse are being paid with funds provided by school fees.
Seven News can reveal parents, and taxpayers, are bankrolling the church’s own insurance company which pays out victims’ compensation.
The victims’ support group Broken Rites says parents of Catholic school children, and taxpayers, are effectively bankrolling massive compensation pay-outs for sexual abuse.
“The Catholic Church has paid mega-millions to the victims. It doesn’t like doing this, it tries to evade it when it can,” Bernard Barrett from Broken Rites said.
He said the church minimises the financial impact of abuse, as parents pay fees to schools, which in turn pay premiums to Catholic Church Insurance Limited.
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