Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge says Catholic church has learned to better support abuse victims

By Brad Ryan
7 News
February 25, 2014

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/21694456/brisbane-archbishop-mark-coleridge-says-catholic-church-has-learned-to-better-support-abuse-victims/

Brisbane's Catholic Archbishop Mark Coleridge says there is no room for complacency on sexual abuse.

Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge says a child abuse scandal in a Toowoomba Catholic school has prompted positive change in the church.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse yesterday concluded a Brisbane hearing into a teacher's abuse of 13 students at the school in 2007 and 2008.

Archbishop Coleridge says the Catholic church now understands the phenomenon of sexual abuse and how to support victims much better than in the past.

"But the more you learn in this incredibly complex area, the more you see you have to learn," he said.

"That's why I say there's no cause for complacency.

"Certain mentalities and certain cultures can creep back at you, like not believing those stories of abuse."

Terence Hayes was the principal of the Toowoomba school at the time.

Mr Hayes was sacked for not reporting sexual abuse complaints to police, but now works at a school north of Brisbane.

Archbishop Coleridge says he will wait for the royal commission's findings before taking any further action.

"When he was employed as a teacher in the Archdiocese of Brisbane, before my time here, there was absolutely no legal reason why he should not have been employed," he said.

"I think there are questions that have arisen in the meantime and those questions are being considered very seriously.

"But the answer to those questions - I think we'll just have to wait until we know more from the royal commission."