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	Bishop Defends Church By Mary Adams Bisbane Times August 10, 2008 http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/queensland/bishop-defends-church/2008/08/10/1218306628779.html A CONTROVERSIAL Catholic bishop has defended the church's handling of sexual abuse victims, despite widespread criticism that it encourages cover-ups. Retired Sydney Bishop Geoffrey Robinson was in Brisbane last week to promote his book Confronting Power And Sex In The Catholic Church, which created a storm before World Youth Day last month. Addressing an event organised by sexual abuse support group the Esther Centre at the Queensland State Library on Wednesday, Bishop Robinson encouraged victims to access the Towards Healing program, set up in 1996 after the jailing of several priests and brothers for sexual abuse. The program was promoted as an alternative to court action and promised justice and compensation to victims. Bishop Robinson said Towards Healing encouraged people to report offences to the police. "The church has no power to coerce witnesses or subpoena documents so we strongly advise [victims] to go to the police, and we [the church] will assist you," he said. "But a lot of people don't want to be cross-examined in court so they want the church to investigate [through Towards Healing]." He said the church had persuaded a significant number of offenders to confess. "We can get them treatment so they don't reoffend, and provide closure for the victim," he said. Bishop Robinson, a former chairman of the committee that runs Towards Healing, said he had been "out of this field for five years now" but he did not believe "there is anything wrong with Towards Healing in itself within the context of the limited goals it seeks to achieve". Mary Adams (pictured) heard the bishop's Brisbane talk. She said Towards Healing was "a hypocritical farce". The Gold Coast nurse said she had been sexually abused in 1962 as a 12-year-old living at Catholic orphanage St Joseph's Home at Neerkol, near Rockhampton. She said she and hundreds who had been abused as children had received no help from Towards Healing. A lot of people abused by the priests and brothers have spent their whole lives suffering because nobody in the church would acknowledge the abuse," she said. Chris McIsaac, president of victims' support group Broken Rites, said 108 brothers and priests had been convicted of sexual assault since 1993.
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