AUSTRALIA
The Age
August 21, 2014
Cameron Houston and Jane Lee
The Catholic Church’s lawyer has been forced to apologise before the Royal Commission over insensitive and incorrect statements made in correspondence between himself and senior figures in the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne.
The comments, by Corrs Chambers Westgarth partner Richard Leder, were made about an application for church funding by Chrissie and Anthony Foster, whose daughter, Emma, was abused by notorious paedophile priest Kevin O’Donnell.
The Foster family requested the church pay for special accommodation for Emma, who suffered from depression, anorexia and drug addiction.
Their application was supported by a report from a counsellor and clinical psychologist.
But Mr Leder accused the Fosters of kicking their eldest daughter out of home, while the church’s “Melbourne Response”, which was established in 1996 to deal with clerical abuse, rejected their funding request.
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