AUSTRALIA
Coffs Coast Advocate
THE Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has heard more than 20% of members of some Catholic religious orders were allegedly involved in child sexual abuse.
The commission in Sydney heard orders including Marist Brothers and Christian Brothers were involved, reports the ABC.
Gail Furness SC used her opening address reveal a survey which showed 4,444 alleged incidents of abuse between January 1980 and February 2015.
She also said private royal commission session revealed 60% of those who attended reported sexual abuse at faith-based institutions, two-thirds of which were Catholic.
Ms Furness called the victims’ accounts of abuse “depressingly similar”.
“Children were ignored or worse, punished,” she said.
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