Church accepts orphanage’s shameful past

By Michael Madigan
Courier-Mail
April 16, 2015

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/church-accepts-orphanages-shameful-past/story-fnihsrf2-1227305491173

The Royal Commission continues.

THE Catholic Church appears to have accepted the full extent of its shameful past at Neerkol as it faces a catalogue of extraordinary allegations of sexual aggression and cruelty against society’s most vulnerable people, orphaned children.

Francis Sullivan, chief executive of the Truth, Justice and Healing Council, made it clear outside the commission yesterday this was no place to challenge the testimony of witnesses and offered unequivocal support for sexual assault victims. Outdated attempts to handle abuse allegations internally had ended and the Church was determined to do all it could to right past wrongs, Mr Sullivan said.

Anyone approaching the Church about child sexual abuse was now immediately encouraged to speak to law enforcement agencies, he said.

Mr Sullivan’s council has already supported the Royal Commission’s chairman Peter McClellan, who wants governments to establish an independent national redress scheme, funded by the institutions responsible for the abuse.

Former Rockhampton bishop Brian Heenan, expected to appear at the inquiry, has received praise from some witnesses for his acknowledgment of the full extent of the horrors of Neerkol.

Bishop Heenan angered many victims nearly two decades ago when he appeared dismissive of their extraordinary claims.

But, after his 1997 apology, which said “I regret having expressed my reaction the way I did, I recognise now that they were not accurate’’, the commission heard Bishop Heenan had been genuinely supportive of several victims.