AUSTRALIA
The Age
Judy Courtin
The Catholic Church’s Truth, Justice and Healing Council has submitted a 200-page submission to the Royal Commission on Institutional Responses to Child Abuse. At first glance, it reads well: compassionate, understanding and victim-focused. It acknowledges criticisms and proposes changes to the church’s Towards Healing process.
But, when dissected, much damaging rhetoric emerges.
Towards Healing was established in 1996 by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference to manage complaints of Catholic clergy sexual abuse and assaults. A protocol was penned, claiming the process to be pastoral, non-adversarial, compassionate, victim-focused and fair. Recently, the ”success” of Towards Healing was declared as evidence that the church had changed its ways and was delivering justice to victims.
But not only have victims not received what was promised, Towards Healing has dished out a whole new round of shameful abuse. According to my research, victims have been traumatised and coerced into signing agreements so Towards Healing could ”close the case”. Victims became more depressed. They were disempowered and felt hurt, frustrated, beaten down, attacked. One
Although the church’s submission did acknowledge some problems with its process, they were minimal. The failings of Towards Healing that were acknowledged included a perceived lack of independence and transparency, inconsistent outcomes and an overly legalistic approach.
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