AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

January 23, 2014

Annette Blackwell

The Catholic Church has paid compensation to abuse victims even when they would have had difficulty proving legal liability in court, a lawyer has told an inquiry.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which is examining how the church’s Towards Healing process worked for abuse complainants, has heard that payments of up to $900,000 were made by the Archdiocese of Sydney.

Patrick Monahan, a solicitor who has represented Catholic Church Insurances Ltd (CCI) at Towards Healing settlements, told the inquiry on Thursday that the company took more than just financial liability into account when agreeing to payments.

“It is not a matter of doing the cheapest deal they can,” Mr Monahan said.