AUSTRALIA
The Age
March 24, 2016
Cameron Houston and Chris Vedelago
A Bayside church linked to historical clerical abuse and destroyed by an arsonist last year will be rebuilt at an estimated cost of $20 million – almost double the total compensation paid by the Archdiocese of Melbourne to 326 victims of paedophile priests.
The decision to restore St James Church in Gardenvale to its former glory has incensed victims of Father Ronald Pickering, who preyed on more than a dozen boys while he served at the church from 1978 to 1993 before fleeing to Britain.
A property claims manager at Catholic Church Insurance, Effie Valavanis confirmed the restoration of the 123-year-old church was the “largest single property claim in CCI history”.
The project to rebuild the heritage-listed church will include the replacement of the choir loft, organ, stained glass windows and mosaics all destroyed by the deliberately lit fire days before Easter last year.
“It’s disgusting they want to rebuild this place after what happened,” said one of Pickering’s victims, who received an ex gratia payment $50,000 from the Melbourne archdiocese.
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