Victims Agreed Not to Go to Police

By Lucy McNally
ABC - Lateline
July 31, 2013

http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2013/s3815551.htm

[with video]

TONY JONES, PRESENTER: A woman hired by the Catholic Church to clean up its approach to paedophile priests says victims of clergy abuse were asked to sign a document agreeing not to go to the police as part of the Church's reconciliation process called Towards Healing. Helen Keevers is one of the last people to give evidence at the New South Wales Government inquiry into the cover-up of sexual abuse in the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese. As part of her role, the trained social worker set up Zimmerman House, a Catholic Church-run centre for sex abuse victims. Lucy McNally reports.

LUCY MCNALLY, REPORTER: Helen Keevers is not a Catholic. She says that meant she had no problem identifying just how bad the Church was when it came to dealing with suspected paedophiles in its ranks.

HELEN KEEVERS, WITNESS: If I can be somewhat flippant, it made me able to see the emperor wasn't wearing any clothes. It made me able to question structures that - and ways of behaving that people within the Church hadn't been able to do previously.

LUCY MCNALLY: In 2004, the then Bishop Michael Malone hired her to look at the Church's so-called bad files, files of priests who'd been the subject of complaints. They included the records of Father Denis McAlinden, one of two paedophiles the inquiry is focused on. The social worker told the commission McAlinden's file was three to four inches thick.

HELEN KEEVERS: I was given complete access to all documents, all archival records. I was asked to pretty much make things right. I was actually asked to access those records to examine whether there was something left to be done in any one of those matters and to do something go it.

LUCY MCNALLY: And she did do something. Between 2004 and 2009, Ms Keevers investigated seven priests, four of whom were later charged.

The Catholic program for victims of clergy abuse is called Towards Healing. The inquiry was today was shown a Towards Healing document which victims were asked to sign. Helen Keevers told the commission it effectively meant they could do one or the other: either take up the Church program or go to police.

However, the inquiry also heard victims who chose to go to police could still access the Church program after the police investigation was completed.

Helen Keevers doesn't use the term victim. She prefers survivors.

HELEN KEEVERS: This whole story is about power and the term victim is really a rather powerless term. And if you look at amazing people like Peter Gogarty in there who's sitting amongst the lawyers cross-examining some of the Church officials, he's a survivor, he's not a victim. And I think it's really important that we honour the courage of those people by calling them survivors.

LUCY MCNALLY: Tomorrow is the last day of the public hearings.

Lucy McNally, Lateline.