AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times
Richard Baker, Nick McKenzie
THE Australian Catholic University approved a highly sensitive research project to analyse archives detailing child sexual abuse by clergy and to identify common themes in their behaviour.
The project, titled ”Sexual Boundary Violations Among Catholic Religious”, was conducted by staff of Encompass Australasia, which was established by the Catholic Church in 1997 to treat clergy for psycho-sexual disorders. Many of those clergy were never reported to police.
To comply with national laws governing human research, Encompass Australasia was required to get approval from an institution with a human research ethics committee.
Fairfax Media has previously reported how Encompass Australasia was used by senior church figures to harbour paedophile clergy who had been diagnosed with ”mood disorders” in order to be treated at Sydney’s Wesley Private Hospital and meet private health insurance criteria.
It is understood that no clergy treated by Encompass Australasia were ever reported to police, despite some admitting to sexually abusing children and others facing serious accusations. In some cases, known paedophile clergy were sent overseas after being treated by Encompass staff at the Sydney hospital.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.