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	Alleged Abuse Victim Denied Audience with Pope By Evan Schwarten Brisbane Times July 17, 2008 http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/queensland/alleged-abuse-victim-denied-audience-with-pope/2008/07/17/1216163036888.html A man allegedly subjected to repeated sexual abuse at the hands of a Catholic priest says he is devastated that church leaders have rejected his request to meet with Pope Benedict XVI. Mackay resident Eric Fleissig, 41, who was allegedly abused for two years while at a Catholic youth refuge at Tweed Heads, in northern NSW, first requested a meeting with the pontiff in March last year. However, yesterday he received an email from the office of Sydney Archbishop Cardinal George Pell advising him his request to meet the Pope, who is in Australia for World Youth Day, had been denied. "It's just devastating. Absolutely and utterly devastating," he told AAP. He said he had lost his faith but felt Pope Benedict XVI was the only one who could help heal his wounds. "I don't want to abuse him because of what happened, I just want him to help me," he said. "I need closure on this. I've lost a lot, I've lost my faith - I see Youth Week and I feel left out." Mr Fleissig was just 13 and homeless when he went to live at a youth refuge attached to St Joseph's Parish at Tweed Heads in the early 1980s. When the priest in charge of the refuge, the late Father Paul Rex Brown, offered to let him live at his house he jumped at the chance. "I was a kid - it was a home, it was beautiful. I thought 'oh my God I've got someone that wants to look after me like a father' and that's when the sexual abuse started," Mr Fleissig said. He said he was sexually abused for the next two years, and banned from attending school or leaving the church precinct until a Catholic brother found him lying on a couch with Fr Brown. He said church officials interrogated him and another boy before asking them to leave the church's care. He also claimed Fr Brown, who was convicted of child pornography offences in 1996, had been moved to Tweed Heads from Lismore amid allegations of sexual abuse. His lawyer Rebecca Jancauskas from Shine Lawyers said Fr Brown was believed to be facing further criminal charges when he died in 2005. Mr Fleissig said he found it difficult to hold down a job or a relationship as a result of the abuse but was currently training as a volunteer with the Queensland Ambulance Service. He is considering legal action against the church.
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