AUSTRALIA
The Guardian
Helen Davidson
theguardian.com, Tuesday 10 December 2013
The former chancellor of the Brisbane archdiocese says it is “difficult” for the church to take the blame for a priest who “fell short of the standards expected of him” when he sexually abused a 15-year-old girl.
The church sought to avoid condemning the convicted man on advice from lawyers and insurers, in case it was left open to liability claims, the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse heard on Tuesday.
On the second day of the public hearing into the Catholic Church’s Towards Healing program, it was also revealed that a development fund of $154m could have been used to pay victims of child abuse within the Brisbane archdiocese.
Brisbane priest Frank Derriman was convicted in 1998 of the sexual abuse of Joan Isaacs when she was 15 and 16. Isaacs sought redress through the Towards Healing process, which was set up in 1996 in response to claims of sexual assault by clergy.
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