AUSTRALIA
The Age
Barney Zwartz
March 29, 2012
SENIOR Melbourne Catholic clergy, including the archbishop’s adviser on sexual abuse issues, have broken ranks by backing a call for an independent inquiry into the handling of abuse complaints.
The adviser, Father Tony Kerin, said yesterday that he had told Archbishop Denis Hart that an independent review would clear the air and should be held, although the cost to the church would be high.
”This is really a crunch issue for the church. If we are to be a church, we need to minister to the victims and do it much better,” he said.
More than 300 sexual abuse victims have received compensation from the Catholic Church in Melbourne. More than 60 Melbourne Catholic clergy and members of religious orders have been convicted of sexual abuse since 1993.
The abuse issue is intensifying worldwide. It started in Boston in the US, spread to Ireland and is now surfacing in Europe and South America. A public inquiry in Ireland, long opposed by the bishops, uncovered decades of institutional abuse but allowed a fresh start, Irish Catholics say.
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