Abuse survivor shocked by Pell response

Sky News
March 10, 2014

http://www.skynews.com.au/topstories/article.aspx?id=957089

A victim of sex abuse says Archbishop George Pell 'slammed a door in his face' when he tried to pursue a claim against the church.

An inquiry in Sydney has been told in the initial stages of a complaint against the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney by abuse survivor John Ellis, Cardinal Pell wrote to him saying the case could not be resolved because the priest concerned was in no state to respond.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is examining Mr Ellis' experiences when he went through the church's internal process Towards Healing and then civil litigation.

Mr Ellis, a lawyer, was sexually abused between 1974 and 1979 when he was between 13 and 17-years-old by Aidan Duggan a Catholic priest at Bass Hill, in Sydney's west.

Mr Ellis had been groomed by him while the priest was in Sydney on leave from an abbey in Scotland.

Fondling and touching turned to frequent serious assault.

The experience had a profound effect on his personal and professional life, the commission heard.

Mr Ellis approached the church's Professional Standards Office (PSO) in 2002 to avail of the pastoral and redress options available under Towards Healing.

An initial investigation resulted in a letter from the then archbishop, Cardinal Pell.

The letter which has been tabled at the inquiry said: 'On the one hand there is your allegation and on the other, Father Duggan cannot respond, and we have no records of complaints of this kind against him'.

It also said: 'It is clear now that Father Duggan is in no state to respond to the charges against him and that the facts of the matter cannot be established'.

Mr Ellis said when he received Cardinal Pell's letter he 'thought a door had been slammed in my face'.

He later wrote to the PSO expressing his shock at the letter, which arrived on Christmas eve.

A month after Cardinal Pell's letter, Mr Ellis' mother, who knew nothing about the abuse, had visited Fr Duggan and said she found the retired priest in good spirits.

His mother told him she found the priest 'frail but in good spirits' and he had recognised his old friends from Bass Hill.

Mr Ellis said he was was extremely upset and emotional about the letter.

He said at no time was he ever asked for corroborative evidence and felt his own details should have been assessed on merit.

He also thought Fr Duggan, who had dementia, was going through a lucid period and could have been interviewed.

Mr Ellis later attempted to sue Cardinal Pell and the trustees of the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney but failed on both counts and the 2005 finding has been interpreted by some as creating a church immunity from prosecution over abuse.

In her opening address to the hearing Gail Furness SC, counsel advising the commission, on Monday outlined Mr Ellis' journey through Towards Healing and later the court cases.

'The manner in which this litigation was conducted caused harm and suffering to Mr Ellis. Concern for Mr Ellis' well being was not apparent at the time of litigation from either the Archdiocese or Cardinal Pell's chosen solicitors,' she said.