AUSTRALIA
ABC News
By the National Reporting Team’s Lorna Knowles
A woman who alleges she suffered horrific child sexual abuse at the hands of a priest has accused the Catholic Church of failing to honour its pledge to treat victims with more compassion.
Gina Swannell is suing the church for damages in relation to sexual abuse she allegedly suffered when she was six years old at the St Francis Xavier boarding school in Urana, New South Wales.
Ms Swannell said the order of nuns which ran the school, the Presentation Sisters, had offered to mediate but the Church had declined to do so, leaving her to take her claim to the courts.
“People need to know that [what] is happening behind closed doors is not what they are saying to the public,” she said.
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