Church's Lawyers Forced to Apologise

By Cameron Houston and Jane Lee
The Age
August 21, 2014

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/churchs-lawyers-forced-to-apologise-20140821-106qvt.html

The Catholic Church's lawyer has been forced to apologise before the Royal Commission over insensitive and incorrect statements madein correspondence between himself and senior figures in the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne.

The comments, by Corrs Chambers Westgarth partner Richard Leder, were made about an application for church funding by Chrissie and Anthony Foster, whose daughter, Emma, was abused by notorious paedophile priest Kevin O'Donnell.

The Foster family requested the church pay for special accommodation for Emma, who suffered from depression, anorexia and drug addiction.

Their application was supported by a report from a counsellor and clinical psychologist.

But Mr Leder accused the Fosters of kicking their eldest daughter out of home, while the church's "Melbourne Response", which was established in 1996 to deal with clerical abuse, rejected their funding request.

"The request for Mr and Mrs Foster does not suggest there is any link between Emma's need for accommodation and any treatment that she requires. Rather, she is homeless because her parents kicked her out," Mr Leder wrote in a letter.

Royal commission chairman Justice Peter McClellan asked for an explanation.

Mr Leder could not recall that he had made the comment and apologised to the Fosters, who have attended all of the commission hearings in Melbourne.

In other letters submitted to the commission, Mr Leder claimed the abuse suffered by Emma at the hands of O'Donnell, was "relatively minor" and doubted the sexual assaults were responsible for her drug problem.

"On the one hand, the link between what appears to be relatively minor abuse and treatment for a heroin addiction might be thought tenuous," Mr Leder wrote.

Mr Leder again apologised to the Fosters. "If I had known then what I know now, I would have been less sceptical," he told the commission.

Mrs Foster was visibly distressed by the airing of the letters, and was consoled by her husband when a break was called.

At 4pm today, Cardinal George Pell will give evidence to the commission by video-link from Rome.