AUSTRALIA
Courier Mail
A VICTIM of a paedophile priest who was “bullied” into accepting meagre compensation has told a parliamentary inquiry into church abuse that all cases of payouts should be reviewed by an independent authority.
As the inquiry headed by state MPs visits Ballarat where a “paedophile cluster” operated in the 1970s, a victims’ group has also called for a card scheme to be introduced so the Catholic Church can foot the bill for ongoing costs and distress.
Speaking at the inquiry this morning Philip Nagle, who was sexually assaulted by clergyman Stephen Francis Farrell at a Ballarat primary school as a nine-year-old in 1974, said the Catholic Church had coerced him and his family into signing release papers.
“We felt like we had no other choice,” he said.
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