BishopAccountability.org
	Melbourne Couple Angered by Hart Letter Otago Daily Times July 3, 2010 http://www.odt.co.nz/news/world/113715/melbourne-couple-angered-hart-letter The Melbourne parents of two girls sexually abused by a parish priest say Catholic Archbishop Denis Hart's letter claiming clergy abuses were well in the past has left them angry and frustrated. Christine and Anthony Foster were compensated by the Catholic Church four years ago over the sexual abuse of their daughters Emma and Katie at the hands of parish priest Kevin O'Donnell. Sadly, the couple lost 26-year-old Emma to suicide in January 2008 after a long battle with drugs, while Katie turned to alcohol and now requires 24-hour care after she was hit by a car while drunk. Mr Foster said he felt the letter by Archbishop Hart, distributed to every Catholic church in the Melbourne diocese this weekend, was a hollow apology and focused on the shame and suffering of the church, rather than the victims. In the letter, Archbishop Hart offers an "unreserved apology" to victims of clergy sexual abuse. He goes on to say most of the complaints received by the church "relate to incidents from thirty and up to eighty years ago. We receive few complaints of abuse that has taken place since the 1970s". "He's trying to make it sound as though these are old issues and they are not," Mr Foster told AAP on Saturday. "These are current issues for everyone who was abused. Certainly, our kids were victims less than 20 years ago." Mr Foster said he felt "angry and frustrated" at the tone of the letter and the lack of action by the church to help victims. He criticised the church's way of dealing with complaints, which through the so-called Melbourne Response involves an independent commissioner testing complaints and capping compensation at $75,000. Mr Foster said the process is difficult and discourages victims from coming forward. The couple battled the Catholic Church for eight years for compensation after rejecting a $50,000 capped payout offered through the Towards Healing Program. They have advocated for the church to provide unlimited support to victims. "The church created this, the church caused this, the church should help fix it with all their resources," Mr Foster said. O'Donnell was jailed for just over a year in 1995 for a range of sexual offences against other victims and died in 1997.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.