AUSTRALIA
The Freethinker (UK)
The Catholic Church today publicly apologised to a disabled woman who was abused over a period of 14 years by one of its priests, Father Tom Knowles, above, the first priest in Australia to be defrocked for having a ‘long-term inappropriate sexual relationship with a woman.’
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the apology to Jennifer Herrick was issued at Victoria’s oldest and busiest Catholic Church, St Francis
In the apology the Church said:
On behalf of the Australian Province of the Blessed Sacrament Congregation, I wish to apologise to Jennifer Herrick for the pain and suffering she experienced.
Herrick, above, was not at the service. She lives in another state and thought the idea of being there would be too traumatic.
The public apology is the culmination of a seven-year battle Herrick waged against the Catholic Church to obtain redress for an ordeal that began when she was a vulnerable young woman with a disability in Sydney. Knowles, who was later to become the Australian head of his order, was working there as a priest.
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