AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net
The Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has completed its first week of a hearing into the controversial “Towards Healing” process, used by the Catholic Church to deal with allegations of abuse against it.
The early part of the week covered events surrounding the abuse of Mrs. Joan Isaacs by priest, Frank Derriman. The case occurred in the Brisbane Archdiocese, in Queensland State. The main points which arose from that case concerned the inadequacies of the “Towards Healing” process, and problems associated with the involvement of church lawyers and insurance officials, in what was billed as a primarily pastoral process.
The final half has enquired into events surrounding the abuse of Jennifer Ingham by priest Paul Rex Brown. This case occurred in the Lismore diocese in New South Wales State. Lismore was also the location of the North Coast Children’s Home, operated by the Anglican Church, which was the case study for the preceding hearings of the Commission (see previous postings).
The Commission has heard apologies from the Brisbane Archbishop, Mark Coleridge, and the Lismore Bishop, Geoffrey Jarrett. Unlike the Mrs. Isaacs case, the Ms. Ingham case was marked by some positive comments on the process by the victim, particularly concerning the role of Patrick Mullins and Geoffrey Jarrett.
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