AUSTRALIA
ABC News
By Philippa McDonald and Riley Stuart
More than 20 per cent of the members of some Catholic religious orders – including Marist Brothers and Christian Brothers – were allegedly involved in child sexual abuse, a royal commission hearing in Sydney has been told.
In her opening address to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Gail Furness SC said a survey revealed 4,444 alleged incidents of abuse between January 1980 and February 2015.
The data was damning for religious institutions, and particularly the Catholic Church.
Ms Furness said 60 per cent of survivors attending private royal commission sessions reported sexual abuse at faith-based institutions.
Of those, almost two-thirds reported abuse in Catholic institutions
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