AUSTRALIA
Macquarie Port News
By Barney Zwartz
Dec. 12, 2012
The Catholic Church has set up a new Truth, Justice and Healing Commission to advise its bishops and run its dealings with the forthcoming royal commission on child sex abuse.
It will be headed by two laymen, a retired Supreme Court judge as chairman and a prominent layman as chief executive, Australian Catholic Bishops Conference Chairman Denis Hart said today.
Saying the church recognised it needed a sophisticated and coordinated response, Archbishop Hart has promised a new era of co-operation, transparency and honesty. So did both new appointments – Barry O’Keefe, QC, as chairman and Francis Sullivan as chief executive – whose first job will be to lift the commission’s membership to 10.
Archbishop Hart, the archbishop of Melbourne, said the new commission would also work with victims of clergy sex abuse.
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