News National Royal Commission Into Child Sexual Abuse.

[ms spock]

After being involved in child sexual assault communities on the east coast of Australia, for 28 years I have come across numerous survivors of sexual abuse by the Catholic Church, and other religions as well as other institutions and foster homes. So I am, for one, so glad about the announcement on the forthcoming national royal commission into child sexual abuse.

It is about time.

How do other people feel and think about this?

 

[Tessa]

I am glad too Ms Spock as so often this has been swept under the carpet by powerful people in high places.

 

[Abrasky]

I was abused by someone, who was abused by someone in the Seventh Day Adventist Church.(So I've been told by another victim of the same person who along with 4 other victims (including my 2 uncles who didn't turn out to be abusive.) I'ts about time the community came up with the times. Silence doesn't make stability of a community anymore.

The people that are effected by this crime are not just the victims are the brothers, sisters and children of the victims and the community itself through suicide and coping mechanisms associated with being a victim.

I thought it was good that they explained that It is not just the evil that causes it, but the environment of support sweeping it under the rug.

 

[saffy]

Agreed about time too. This is a worldwide problem!!! Peodos praying on vulnerable people, people covering up or not acting on information recieved, not beleiving the victims!!.

Saffy :(

 

[Zef]

If the commission actually makes an impact, I have just one word. Amen.

 

[AS1975]

One major issue is that the so called "Rome Files" of the Christian Brothers need to be bought to light. My father and his brother were abused at the Christian Brothers School in Townsville in the 1950-1960's. Dad's brother traveled to Rome and confronted the abuser, who'd been shifted from school to school, region to region and the abuse had continued, until the person was promoted up the hierarchy to Rome. The Irish Commission into child abuse by the Christian Brothers (an Irish Order, the Order of St Ignatius) "discovered" after being given total protection / immunity from prosecution, a number of files stored at the headquarters of the Order in Rome detailing at least 30 proven cases of abuse, that had been prosecuted to the fullest extent of Canon law (slap over the wrist essentially).

My fathers brother refuses to discuss what happened when he confronted the abuser, although both he and my father received 'hush money' from the Church (which comes from school fees and governmental support to Catholic schools, the Catholic Church being such a poor institution). People who know these things should be forced to appear at the inquiry and to tell their stories in full, under oath, before these scum are allowed to hide behind immunity deals. Particularly when there is a quite concerning possibility, that the files in Rome are being held and protected by proven Child Abusers, who've been promoted to the head of the Chapter in Rome, as my father (and uncles' abuser has been).

 

[maddog]

I've been out of circulation the past few weeks and so haven't read up on the ins and outs of the Royal Commission yet, but as with all such inquiries, there will no doubt be a time and mechanism for individual submissions to be made. My psychiatrist has already strongly suggested that I should consider putting one together, particularly as I have worked in public policy and had dealings with a number of public inquiries and commissions of this nature and so have some insight into how they work and how to pitch information at them in a way which will have meaning.

Whether or not I do will probably depend on the state of my PTSD brain at the time, but whichever way, I would recommend that anyone who has information such as that which you describe above AS1975, should seriously consider making a submission. Whether or not it makes a skerik of difference or impact is another matter of course, and sadly, my knowledge of these processes may have given me just enough insight to be deeply cynical, but if you let the opportunity pass by without taking it up, then you really do only have yourself to blame for the ongoing silence and lack of understanding... that being a generic "you" of course.

Maddog

 

[AS1975]

I'm actually working on Dad to make a submission. He works for ATSILS now and is a qualified Social Worker (who is up for an award for work on Aboriginal Communities on Australia Day). He has an overdeveloped sense of social justice, is a fighting fool and already has a head of steam. Unfortunately he often allows his mouth to operate before his head can moderate his thoughts, but fortunately he works with barristers and QC's now, and I can also help him design his submission. The frightening thing is that the actual abusers are in charge of the files (as was seen in Ireland). We also have to work a way around the whole 'hush money' and the contractual obligations under that, but a subpoena would be an effective 'out' for that.

It's funny you know (insofar as any aspect of this is amusing), of all the people in all the world for them to give first hand knowledge of the system, they've chosen one of the biggest, most vindictive pricks I can imagine, a child abusers worst nightmare, someone who knows the system and has the heart to fight it. Bring it on

 

[ms spock]

http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/

On Friday 11 January 2013, Her Excellency Quentin Bryce, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, appointed a six-member Royal Commission to investigate Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
The Royal Commission will inquire into how institutions with a responsibility for children have managed and responded to allegations and instances of child sexual abuse.

It will investigate where systems have failed to protect children, and make recommendations on how to improve laws, policies and practices to prevent and better respond to child sexual abuse in institutions.

The Commissioners can look at any private, public or non-government organisation that is, or was in the past, involved with children, including government agencies, schools, sporting clubs, orphanages, foster care, and religious organisations.

This includes where they consider an organisation caring for a child is responsible for the abuse or for not responding appropriately, regardless of where or when the abuse took place.

The Hon. Justice Peter McClellan AM has been appointed Chair of the Commission. Justice McClellan, has held since 2005, one of the most senior judicial positions in the New South Wales judiciary as the Chief Judge at Common Law of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.

The other five Commissioners are Mr Bob Atkinson AO APM, the former Queensland Police Commissioner, Justice Jennifer Coate, Family Court Judge and former Victorian Coroner and, Mr Robert Fitzgerald AM, Productivity Commissioner, Professor Helen Milroy, Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and former Senator for Western Australia, Mr Andrew Murray.

The Commissioners have been appointed for three years and will begin their inquiry as soon as possible. The Commission will prepare an interim report by no later than 30 June 2014.

In the interim report, the Commissioners will also identify when their final report will be completed. The final reporting date has been set initially at the end of 2015, but this will be subject to advice from Commissioners in their interim report.

 

[ms spock]

http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2013/s3908132.htm

MARK COLVIN: The royal commission into child sexual abuse has been piecing together the figures on how much the Catholic Church has paid to victims of abuse through its own Towards Healing process.

It comes to a bit over $40 million over 17 years. But that was spread around 1,700 people.

That looks like an average of just over $25,000 per victim, but since one victim alone got $850,000 the real average would be lower.

It's the royal commission's fourth public inquiry, and it's examining the stories of four abuse survivors and their experiences of Towards Healing.

In the Catholic Church's first public appearance at the royal commission, the Church acknowledged that children were abused and there were cover-ups, and that Towards Healing wasn't perfect.

Emily Bourke reports.

EMILY BOURKE: Evidence presented to the royal commission today provides a snapshot of the Catholic Church's Towards Healing protocol; the volume of abuse cases that have been handled through the scheme and the tens millions of dollars paid to victims who were abused between the 1950s and 1980s.

Senior counsel assisting, Gail Furness, explained that the data, while incomplete, shows that 1,700 people participated in Towards Healing.

GAIL FURNESS: Over 60 per cent of all Towards Healing complaints detailed the incident location as a school, college or orphanage. The Church authority with the largest number of complaints was the Christian Brothers, followed by the Marist Brothers, and then the De La Salle Brothers.

Of the data available, which, as I've indicated, is known to be incomplete, and only refers to Towards Healing, a total of $43 million has been paid by all Church authorities.

EMILY BOURKE: The lawyer representing the Catholic Church, Peter Gray SC, told the inquiry that the outcomes of Towards Healing depend largely on the individuals involved, and that despite its imperfections, it's delivered real and valuable support and reparations to many people.

But some survivors in the packed hearing room were so distressed by Mr Gray's opening statement that they walked out.

PETER GRAY: Many will remember from their own childhoods the ageless words from the Gospel of Mark: "Let the little children come to me…

(Sound of unrest in courtroom)

"…do not stop them. For it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs."

And again from Mark: "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in me to stumble, it will be better for him if a great millstone were hung round his neck, and he were cast into the sea."

The Catholic Church comes before this royal commission acutely aware of its failures in this fundamental part of its mission.

EMILY BOURKE: He went on to speak about the four victims who were the subject of this public inquiry, prompting this interjection from Justice Peter McClellan.

PETER GRAY: One of the cases, as we see it, is not really a Towards Healing case at all, but an example of someone who chose to approach the Church outside Towards Healing…

PETER MCCLELLAN: Mr Gray, I know I've allowed you to make an opening, but an opening is designed to lay out where the evidence is going to go, but not to express conclusions about it. Conclusions are a matter to be assessed after the evidence has been given.

EMILY BOURKE: When she was 14-years-old, in the 1960s, Joan Isaacs was abused for two years by Father Francis Derriman from the Archdiocese of Brisbane.

JOAN ISAACS: This occurred in a number of places: my home, my bedroom, his car, and the presbytery.

Subsequently two of three charges of indecent assault were proven in a court of law. Further damage was done through the Church's inappropriate dealings with me at the time, and their inaction in light of many complaints.

When I asked to see Father Doyle at the time of the offences, he commented about the inappropriateness of my going to Holy Communion while all this had been happening. He also commented that it was time that I went to find someone of my own age.

EMILY BOURKE: Her negotiations with the Catholic Church 30 years later went on for more than two years. In the end she got $30,000. But her legal fees and medical expenses came to $20,000. With the money she had left over she bought a sewing machine and some shares.

Last week she received a letter from the Archbishop of Brisbane.

JOAN ISAACS: Too little, too late. I was waiting and waiting and I heard the opening address from the Church this morning about how sorry they were for everything that happened, and I went back to my letter and I couldn't find sorry anywhere.

I believe I signed my deed of release under duress. I was silenced for the last 12 years. I also know that when the royal commission started that this was one of the reasons that I needed to stand up, because I needed to be free of these chains before I died. There's a time of your life when you have to stand up for what is right. And the time for me is now.

(Sound of applause)

EMILY BOURKE: Dr Kenneth Robertson is the former convenor of the Queensland Professional Standards Office. He was questioned over Mrs Isaacs claim for counselling, compensation and an apology.

KENNETH ROBERTSON: I don't think that she got a just and compassionate outcome because, first of all, the delay of two years, which is absolutely nonsense. I don't think that the negotiation with regards to the monetary outcome was handled well at all.

EMILY BOURKE: This is the first chapter of ongoing inquiries into Towards Healing. Other survivors from around Australia who've been through Towards Healing are invited to contact the royal commission.

MARK COLVIN: Emily Bourke.

 

[ms spock]

I'm actually working on Dad to make a submission. He works for ATSILS now and is a qualified Social Worker (who is up for an award for work on Aboriginal Communities on Australia Day). He has an overdeveloped sense of social justice, is a fighting fool and already has a head of steam. Unfortunately he often allows his mouth to operate before his head can moderate his thoughts, but fortunately he works with barristers and QC's now, and I can also help him design his submission. The frightening thing is that the actual abusers are in charge of the files (as was seen in Ireland). We also have to work a way around the whole 'hush money' and the contractual obligations under that, but a subpoena would be an effective 'out' for that.

Bring it on

I hope it is going well for your Dad. Good on you for supporting him.

 

[ms spock]

The inquiry into sexual abuse in institutions in Australia is a big step forward (though many victims have said to me that the system was not victim/survivor friendly and accessible so a lot of people have not come forward.) But some have and so hopefully it will make a difference.

Today the front page news was the Catholics had paid 43 Million Dollars in compensation, but that is not out of court and other negotiations so really who knows how much they have really paid, but it is only about $25,000 per person. But it is in the news, in black and white what we Catholics have known for 20 plus years.