AUSTRALIA
Sky News
Australia’s Catholic church will consider an overhaul of how it handles clerical sexual abuse claims with plans to appoint independent experts and move away from the pastoral management of victim reparation and child protection standards.
In a recommendation endorsed by church leaders and due to be submitted to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the church’s advisory body – the Truth, Justice and Healing Council – has suggested the church should hand over responsibility for determining and distributing who is eligible for compensation and how it should be paid.
‘We think that it is time now to look at a distinct separation of the pastoral responsibility and response of a church and its responsibility and contribution to compensation,’ Council CEO Francis Sullivan told ABC Radio on Thursday.
‘This is a new direction based on accountability, transparency and independent oversight.’
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