AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times
November 13, 2012
Barney Zwartz
VICTIMS of clergy sex abuse were elated, and some wept tears of joy, at the news there will be a royal commission into institutional responses to child sex abuse.
Even the Catholic Church in Australia supported the announcement – saying the bishops shared ”the feelings of horror and outrage which all decent people feel when they read the reports of sexual abuse and allegations of cover-up” – but denying there was a systemic problem in the church.
Nicky Davis, spokeswoman for SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) said victims were ”completely overjoyed”.
”There will be mixed emotions as well, because it brings up that our voice has been suppressed for so long and we’ve been abandoned, but it’s a joyous day,” Ms Davis said.
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