AUSTRALIA
The Age
November 14, 2012
Barney Zwartz
AS AUSTRALIA’S most senior Catholics told the media that the Catholic Church had changed immeasurably for the better in the past 20 years in tackling clergy sex abuse, a victims group cited 99 instances where it said the church’s so-called Melbourne Response had failed them.
Archbishop of Sydney Cardinal George Pell said on Tuesday the church was victim of a ”persistent press campaign” that significantly exaggerated the problem.
He told a press conference the church was serious about tackling the issue, and objected to it being described as ”the only cab in the rank”, while Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart – chairman of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference – said the church had taken decisive steps to make child safety a priority and to help victims.
But a victims group claims the Melbourne Response, set up by Cardinal Pell in 1996 when he was archbishop of Melbourne, is flawed and has often failed victims.
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