Catholic Church sex abuse complaints top 100 since inquiry began

AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

October 24, 2013

Barney Zwartz
Religion editor, The Age.

More than 100 new complaints of clergy child abuse have been made to the Catholic Church in Victoria since the parliamentary inquiry into how the churches handled child sexual abuse began last year.

There were 95 new complaints in the 2012-13 financial year ended June 30, the Melbourne
Archdiocese announced on Thursday, and church spokesman Shane Mackinlay said that victims had come forward “at the same rate” in the first three months of this financial year.

Because the figures came from different sources he did not have precise figures for this year, but it would be about 25. The church gave the updated figures to the Victorian inquiry on Wednesday.

The new complaints relate to abuse from the 1940s to the 1990s, and one parish priest has been stood down and had his faculties removed, Father Mackinlay said.

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