AUSTRALIA
Courier-Mail
Rebekah Ison, Australian Associated Press
The head of the Catholic Church’s Truth, Justice and Healing Council has held back tears as he talked about the “shocking” and “indefensible” number of alleged child sex abusers revealed by world-first data.
The research released by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Monday found almost 4500 people made allegations of child sexual abuse to church authorities over 35 years.
Seven per cent of priests who were members of 75 surveyed Catholic authorities between 1950 and 2010 were alleged offenders.
In one of 10 religious orders examined, the St John of God Brothers, 40.4 per cent of members over the six decades were alleged abusers.
“Between January 1980 and February 2015, 4444 people alleged incidents of child sexual abuse made to 93 Catholic Church authorities,” counsel assisting Gail Furness SC said in Sydney on Monday.
“The average age between the alleged abuse and date a claim was made was 33 years.”
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