AUSTRALIA
9 News
Support to stop the tragically high number of suicides among victims of clergy sexual abuse must be a key recommendation of a Victorian parliamentary inquiry, victims and advocates say.
Clergy abuse survivor Stephen Woods says the deaths are a indictment of the Catholic Church, with as many as 60 linked suicides in western Victoria.
He hopes the Victorian parliamentary inquiry will recommend providing funds for abuse survivors to pay for health bills, counselling, housing and living expenses.
“There are so many victims who are hurting and whose lives are still shattered from pedophilic activity, that society is going to have to support them for the rest of their lives – and that support needs to be adequate to stop the deaths,” he told AAP.
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