AUSTRALIA
The Australian
PIA AKERMAN THE AUSTRALIAN OCTOBER 03, 2013
THE Catholic Church has pledged to reform its controversial Towards Healing program for victims of clerical sexual abuse, emphasising greater transparency and independent management of compensation.
The royal commission investigating institutional responses to child sexual abuse has already received numerous submissions from victims’ advocates accusing church representatives of undermining victims and taking a defensive or hostile position in meetings.
In its submission to the inquiry, the church’s Truth, Justice and Healing Council acknowledged some of the problems and said it was developing proposals for greater oversight of its in-house settlement process.
“The church readily accepts that Towards Healing is not a complete, or perfect, solution for what is a complex and very difficult issue, and that it will inevitably have shortcomings from the perspective of some victims,” the council said.
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