AUSTRALIA
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The Catholic Church’s PR unit, set up to deal with fall-out from the Royal Commission, has managed to get in first with its arguments, before the commission holds hearings on the discredited “Towards Healing” program at the end of the year.
CEO of the PR unit, Francis Sullivan (see previous posting), has been active in the media, appearing on talk shows, current affairs programs and posting an article in the “Daily Telegraph” newspaper. The “Daily Telegraph” gave him a free run, by not giving a right-of-reply opportunity to the victims’ side, such as an article by the many advocates including Peter Ellis, Judy Courtin, Chris Wilding, David Shoebridge etc.
Sullivan used an old PR tactic of giving the impression that there were only a few, minor flaws in the Catholic Church’s process for dealing with victims of its paedophile priests.
He admits it is not “a perfect solution” but then qualifies with the excuse that “it is a complex and difficult issue,” which “will inevitably have shortcomings from the perspective of some victims.” Note the use of “shortcomings” to minimize the faults of the system. Then, he implies that the faults are only from the “perspective” of victims, so that there is the impression that victims may have a distorted view which is not real. Perhaps, he indirectly suggests, they are asking for perfection, which everyone knows is not possible. Finally, he then refers to “some victims”, rather than “most victims”, in another attempt to minimize the extent of the problem.
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