AUSTRALIA
The Courier
By Samantha Walker Nov. 23, 2015
A body representing the Catholic Church has released guidelines for how the church should respond to civil claims for child sexual abuse, which have received mixed reviews from a sexual abuse survivor and lawyer.
The Truth, Justice and Healing Council published the guidelines yesterday, which aim to “promote justice and consistency” with the church’s handling of sexual abuse claims and litigation. They include that church authorities should pay “legitimate claims without litigation” and “assist a claimant to identify the correct defendant to respond to legal proceedings”.
Ballarat clergy abuse survivor, Andrew Collins, welcomed the guidelines but said they needed to go further to guarantee survivors could receive compensation from the church.
“I’m very pleased to see them (the church) standing up and taking this seriously, because litigation has been very hard to pursue in the past,” Mr Collins said.
“One thing they need to do is to nominate an entity for survivors to sue.”
In the past the church has used a legal tactic known as the ‘Ellis Defence’ to avoid paying compensation to victims of sexual abuse.
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