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George Pell believes abuse victims should be able to sue Catholic church
By Helen Davidson
The royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse has begun its eighth public hearing with a startling statement from Cardinal George Pell that he believes victims should be able to sue the church in Australia, and an indication from the church that mechanisms for this would be in place by the hearing’s end. The public hearing, which began in Sydney on Monday, is the second chapter of the commission’s examination of the Catholic church, this time focusing on the response by the Sydney diocese and the church’s professional standards office (NSW/ACT) to the complaint of John Ellis. Monday heard the opening statement from senior counsel assisting Gail Furness, and testimony from Ellis, the sole victim to take the stand during this hearing. Furness outlined the case ahead, which is predicted to stretch over two weeks. Among her opening remarks, Furness read excerpts from a statement given to the royal commission by Pell, which said in hindsight the Ellis litigation had caused him some concern. “Whatever position was taken by the lawyers during the litigation, or by lawyers or individuals within the archdiocese following the litigation, my own view is that the church in Australia should be able to be sued in cases of this kind,” wrote Pell. The Ellis case, which Pell fought successfully and at great expense, confirmed that the Catholic church in Australia was virtually unsueable and that church assets were not available to pay damages to victims of clerical child abuse. Individual abusers often had few to no assets for which victims could sue. Though the cardinal has previously expressed regret at the ferocity of the church’s fight with Ellis, his statement to the royal commission on Monday marked a significant shift. The truth justice and healing council, which represents the church before the royal commission, is working on a mechanism to make it possible for all victims to sue the church. “We are talking about a legal reality for all people the subject of child sex abuse,” Francis Sullivan, CEO of the council, told Guardian Australia. Sullivan briefed the bishops on this a fortnight ago and assured the Guardian “the bishops have indicated their verbal support”. The mechanism for achieving this will be set out in its formal submission to the royal commission due in a fortnight. Ellis was unaware the church intended to mount its defence – that trustees holding church assets could not be sued for damages for the actions of an individual abuser – until the litigation began, more than two years after his June 2002 formal complaint to Towards Healing, he told the hearing. He was also told because of the legal action Pell would not meet with him as part of the Towards Healing process, and no spiritual director was appointed. “The manner in which this litigation was conducted caused harm and suffering to Mr Ellis,” Furness said. “The approach adopted by the archdiocese to the litigation was matched by the approach taken towards recovering costs.” Ellis was offered $25,000, later increased to $30,000, in “gratuity”, despite seeking four times that amount. The money was “not intended as compensation or damages in the legal sense” and he would have to sign a deed of release, Ellis alleged he was told by a Towards Healing facilitator. Furness said the archdiocese’s solicitors also told Ellis their costs were likely to be be more than $500,000 but they would forego them if Ellis agree not to appeal to the high court. Ellis was abused as an altar boy by priest Aidan Duggan, a Benedictine monk on leave from Scotland, in the late 1970s when he was aged between 13 and 17. Duggan is now deceased. Church representatives also allegedly stonewalled the beginnings of the process by claiming Duggan, who was suffering senile dementia, was too ill to corroborate any claims and thus it was “difficult” to go forward. “Soon after his arrival in the parish, Father Duggan began to take a special interest in me,” said Ellis. The abuse began as touching, hugging and fondling, occurring regularly in Duggan’s bedroom and sitting room at the presbytery. The abuse escalated to masturbation of each other, oral sex and anal intercourse both at the parish and on holidays on the NSW central coast. Duggan also gave Ellis whiskey, taught him to drive and gave him books about homosexual relationships to justify their interactions. “I remember him saying to me words to the effect it is OK and normal to feel the way we do but some people don’t understand. I understand you,” Ellis told the hearing. The two maintained contact, including when Duggan officiated at Ellis’s marriage in 1986, and baptised Ellis’s first child in 1987. When questioned why Ellis had sought out Duggan for these ceremonies, Ellis said it was “because he’d been someone who had been supportive to me, and I felt a strong connection to him and at that time he was effectively the only priest I had any contact with”. After attending support weekends following his 1995 divorce, Ellis was invited back as a facilitator, and prepared a talk on “trusting myself and others”. “It was in the course of writing this talk I first recognised Father Duggan’s conduct towards me as abusive and wrong,” said Ellis. “When I wrote that talk I realised that what Father Duggan had done was abuse and that it was wrong. After that I developed very strong feelings in relation to the abuse and this frightened me. I wasn’t sure how to react.” Pell is expected to appear before the royal commission next week. The hearing will also question director of professional standards NSW/ACT Michael Salmon and Pell’s private secretary Dr Michael Alan Casey. The royal commission has held seven public hearings so far, examining the responses and failures in responding to allegations of sexual abuse of children within institutions including the Salvation Army, YMCA, the Parramatta girls home and Hay Institute, and the Catholic church. The commission has so far received more than 10,000 phone calls, 3,000 letters and held more than 1,200 private sessions with victims. It has served more than 450 notices to government and non-government institutions to produce documents. The hearing continues.
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