AUSTRALIA
SBS
A senior NSW Catholic has told an inquiry how church leaders believed pedophile priests could be “cured” if they received counselling.
Monsignor John Usher on Monday fronted a Sydney court for the special commission of inquiry into how church leaders and police handled child sexual abuse allegations against two Hunter Valley priests, Denis McAlinden and James Fletcher.
Under questioning from counsel assisting the commission Julia Lonergan, Monsignor Usher recalled a steep “learning curve” faced by senior clergy who were grappling with abuse allegations in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
“It’s important to understand that the church, like many other institutions, really believed that if someone committed these offences it was possible for them to go into therapy and to be cured,” Monsignor Usher told the inquiry.
“I’m not saying it was a universally held view but our church is strong on forgiveness and reconciliation and if someone said ‘I’m truly sorry, I’m not going to do it again’, there was a tendency to believe them.”
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