AUSTRALIA
Courier Mail
EDITORIAL: Cardinal George Pell’s change of heart proves Child Sexual Abuse Royal Commission’s worth
THE abuse case brought against the Catholic Church by former altar boy John Ellis was by any measure a travesty of justice.
Mr Ellis was abused as an altar boy by a Benedictine monk, priest Aidan Duggan, on leave from Scotland, in the late 1970s. Mr Ellis was aged between 13 and 17 when the abuse took place.
Mr Ellis asked for compensation from the church as part of its Towards Healing process but the Sydney Archdiocese’s lawyers fought against a cash settlement, arguing the Catholic Church was not a legal entity which could be sued and the church’s priests and officials bore no responsibility for the actions of their brethren.
Mr Ellis’s bid for an acknowledgment of culpability from the church and compensation was dashed in 2007 when the New South Wales Court of Appeal agreed with the Catholic legal team – setting a precedent which continues to be used today. Cardinal George Pell, then archbishop of Sydney, agreed to this defence being run but later disowned it, claiming he was unaware of all aspects of the case.
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