Former Priest Says Child Sex Abuse Inquiry Overdue

By Adam Davies
Sunshine Coast Daily
November 14, 2012

http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/former-priest-says-child-sex-abuse-inquiry-overdue/1620424/

FORMER Toowoomba Catholic priest Dr Jim Madden said the announcement of a royal commission into the sex abuse of minors was well overdue.

In announcing the royal commission, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the investigation would not focus solely on the Catholic Church.

She said it would include religious organisations, state-run institutions, church and state-run schools and not-for-profit organisations, including sporting clubs and Scouts.

Mr Madden, who served as a priest for 16-years, said the Catholic Church was only reluctantly playing ball because it had been forced to do so by public pressure.

Former Catholic priest Dr Jim Madden.

"The church has for a long time turned a blind eye to it all," Dr Madden said.

"They always viewed it as being a moral matter, not a criminal matter.

"The church has always taken the easy way out by simply ignoring it and sending the perpetrator to confessional," he said.