AUSTRALIA
Echo
The Royal Commission Into Child Sexual Abuse has again stirred emotion over horrendous acts perpetrated in God’s name.
The Commission’s latest public hearing, Case Study 50: Catholic Church authorities in Australia, found seven per cent of priests who were members of 75 surveyed authorities were alleged ‘offenders’ between 1950 and 2010.
Remarkably, the Lismore Diocese has been named as having the fourth largest number of pedophile priests in the country.
AAP reported that after the commission conducted 15 public hearings into the Catholic Church, counsel assisting Gail Furness SC said much of it included ‘depressingly similar’ evidence.
‘Documents about alleged abuse were destroyed or not kept’, she said. ‘Children were ignored, or worse, punished. Secrecy prevailed as did cover-ups.’
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.