Royal commission into abuse criticises Catholic Church response

By Rachel Browne
Sydney Morning Herald
February 11, 2015

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/royal-commission-into-abuse-criticises-catholic-church-response-20150211-13boqz.html

Made to sign a gag order by the church: victim Joan Isaacs.

Repeatedly sexually assaulted between 1974 and 1979: John Ellis.

The Catholic Church vigorously fought a legal claim from a sexual abuse victim to discourage other potential claimants from mounting their own litigations, according to a report released by a royal commission on Wednesday.

A report into how the Catholic Church dealt with John Ellis's complaint of horrific abuse at the hands of a priest found serious flaws in the church's response. 

It found that former Sydney archbishop Cardinal George Pell's edict to church lawyers to not accept that Mr Ellis had been abused by Father Aidan Duggan was based on incorrect information.

"The archdiocese [of Sydney] wrongly concluded that it had never accepted that Father Duggan had abused Mr Ellis," the report says.

"This conclusion allowed Cardinal Pell to instruct the archdiocese's lawyers to maintain the non-admission of Mr Ellis's abuse. The archdiocese accepted the advice of its lawyers to vigorously defend Mr Ellis's claim.

"One reason Cardinal Pell decided to accept this advice was to encourage other prospective plaintiffs not to litigate claims of child sexual abuse against the church."

Mr Ellis, a Sydney lawyer, was repeatedly sexually assaulted by Father Duggan between 1974 and 1979, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has previously heard.

His case ignited a lengthy battle about whether the Catholic Church can be sued for damages under common law.

In its report, the royal commission found that the archdiocese of Sydney "fundamentally failed" Mr Ellis by not complying with its own policies on sexual abuse claims under its Towards Healing protocol. The report found that the archdiocese did not offer "the assistance demanded by justice and compassion when determining the amount of reparation offered to Mr Ellis" and "failed to conduct the litigation with Mr Ellis in a manner that adequately took account of his pastoral and other needs as a victim of sexual abuse".

The commission agreed with Cardinal Pell's admission in evidence that "the archdiocese, the trustees and he as archbishop, did not act fairly from a Christian point of view in the conduct of the litigation against Mr Ellis".

A separate report into the Towards Healing process, also released on Wednesday, exposed further failings in the Catholic Church's application of the protocol.

One abuse victim – Joan Isaacs – was made to sign a gag order after going through Towards Healing, with the commissioners finding it "effectively imposed on Mrs Isaacs an obligation of silence about the circumstances that led to her complaint, which was inconsistent with Towards Healing principles".

They also found that two senior Marist Brothers ignored numerous cases of abuse committed against students at Marist Brothers schools.

Nicky Davis, a member of  support group Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priest, welcomed the findings but said there were much worse cases of abuse in the Catholic Church that had not been publicly examined.

"Most survivors are well aware that the material which is out there is far from the worst behaviour by the Catholic Church," she said.

"What these findings show us is that it is a system issue and it needs a systemic solution."

The Catholic Church's Truth Justice and Healing Council, which responds to the royal commission, released a short comment: "The council is currently reviewing the reports."