AUSTRALIA
ABC News
[with audio]
Monsignor John Usher has told the special commission of inquiry into child sexual abuse in the Newcastle-Maitland region that he took notes as part of his work with the church’s special issues committee set up to handle complaints and allegations about priests. His record keeping has been scrutinised by the Special Commission of Inquiry led by Margaret Cunneen, SC. His method of note-taking differs from that of his colleague Brian Lucas, who admitted during hearings that he took no notes of his meetings with alleged paedophile priests.
Transcript
ELEANOR HALL: The special inquiry into child sexual abuse in the Newcastle-Hunter region has begun hearing evidence from two witnesses from the Catholic Church.
Father Brian Lucas has been recalled to the commission, and Monsignor John Usher will appear for the first time as the commission investigates the Church’s response to allegations of abuse by two priests who’ve now died.
Today’s hearings come just one week before the national Royal Commission begins its public hearings.
The World Today’s Emily Bourke has been at the hearings in Sydney this morning and she joins us now. Emily, why is the evidence from these two church figures today so significant?
EMILY BOURKE: Well, Eleanor, Brian Lucas and John Usher had key roles. They were part of the special issues committee set up to handle allegations. And both men were really at the forefront of the Church’s response to child sexual abuse allegations in the 1980s and 1990s.
And this pre-dated the protocols towards healing and the Melbourne response – the official processes that the Church set up in the wake of mounting allegations and a need for the Church to really get a handle on how to deal with allegations both within the Church and in a civil sense.
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