AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse
11 February, 2015
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has published two reports; ‘Report of Case Study 4: The experiences of four survivors with the Towards Healing process’ and ‘Report of Case Study 8: Mr John Ellis’s experience of the Towards Healing process and civil litigation’.
The Towards Healing protocol is a set of principles and procedures established by the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the Australian Conference of Leaders of Religious Institutes. It contains principles and procedures for handling complaints of sexual abuse by a priest, religious or other Catholic Church personnel. It was introduced in 1997 and revised in 2000, 2003, 2008 and 2010.
Report of Case Study 4
This report examines how the Catholic Church’s Towards Healing protocol responded to four people who were sexually abused by priests or religious, and have experienced significant and continuing adverse impacts from the abuse.
Mrs Joan Isaacs was sexually abused by a Catholic priest, Father Francis Edward Derriman from 1967 to 1968. Mrs Isaacs started the Towards Healing process after Father Derriman had been convicted of two counts of indecent dealing against her.
After Mrs Isaacs’ settlement sum was agreed on she was required to sign a deed of release which included clauses that prevented her from disclosing the terms of the settlement and required her not to make ‘disparaging remarks or comments’ about the Church Authority. The Commissioners found that these clauses effectively imposed on Mrs Isaacs an obligation of silence about the circumstances that led to her complaint, which was inconsistent with Towards Healing principles.
Mrs Jennifer Ingham gave evidence that she was sexually abused by Father Paul Rex Brown between 1978 and 1982.
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