AUSTRALIA
Christian Today
By: Rachel Ford
Wednesday, 13 August 2014
The Catholic Church has called for a national victims’ redress scheme in a bid to alleviate the suffering of child abuse victims.
A submission to the child abuse Royal Commission by the Truth Justice and Healing Council proposed the scheme be operated by the government, but funded by the institutions responsible for the abuse.
“The days of the Catholic Church investigating itself are over,” Francis Sullivan, CEO of the Council, said.
He also expressed hope that the redress scheme would be a ‘giant step forward’ in providing justice for victims continuing to suffer from the ‘devastating impacts of child sexual abuse, and added that a non-adversarial approach would be needed to ensure ‘just, compassionate and fair’ compensation was provided.
A spokeswoman for the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests approved of the proposed scheme, but said that ultimately “actions speak louder than words.”
“Our experience has been that they make big promises but, when it comes down to it, what they deliver is nothing like the PR message,” she told the Sydney Morning Herald.
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