The Catholic Church has paid at least $6 million to victims of pedophile priests in Maitland-Newcastle diocese, including some of the greatest known individual compensation payouts in Australia to children sexually abused by clergy.
The great number of church sexual assault victims in Australia has prompted victims' support group Broken Rites spokesman Wayne Chamley to call on Pope Benedict XVI to issue a formal papal apology when he arrives for World Youth Day in July, similar to his apology in the United States last week to abuse victims in that country.
Those connected to the payouts are bound by confidentiality agreements with the Maitland-Newcastle diocese but The Herald has been able to confirm that at least $6 million has been paid to victims of pedophile priests Father Vince Ryan, the late Father Jim Fletcher and the late Father Denis McAlinden.
Most of the money was paid to victims of Father Ryan, who were sexually abused by the priest between 1972 and 1991 after church representatives who were told of his offending in 1975 "decided to do nothing".
Father Ryan's victims received hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The average church payment to victims is about $40,000.
The church is preparing to face a new round of compensation claims following Herald articles last year that concluded with an unprecedented statement from the church acknowledging Father McAlinden as a serial child molester.
Four of the priest's victims have begun legal action.
Another 17 of Father McAlinden's victims have sought counselling with Maitland-Newcastle diocese's Zimmerman House.
One of two Newcastle sisters abused by the priest in the 1960s, who received a personal apology from Bishop of Maitland-Newcastle Michael Malone late last year, said she was seeking compensation because the church let her down.
The priest sexually abused her on a number of occasions when she was aged between 8 and 12.
On at least one occasion she was sexually abused while saying confession to him.
"I don't care if I only get one dollar but I feel like they just want us older victims to be silent and go away so they can forget about us and I don't want that to happen," she said.
The woman was aware of another victim of Father McAlinden's who was taking legal action.
"She has a sister who was a victim of McAlinden's as well," she said.
"He liked siblings up to about the age of 12 until they got too old for him."
Broken Rites researcher Bernard Barrett said payments in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to Hunter pedophile priest victims made Maitland-Newcastle diocese "one of the more spectacular of the dioceses in terms of sexual abuse cases, along with Ballarat, in Victoria".
"Payments of hundreds of thousands of dollars are extraordinary in these kinds of cases, because the average pedophile priest abuse compensation payouts are $40,000," he said.
The extremely high payments to Father Ryan's victims concerns the church's breach of its duty of care towards children.
Zimmerman House manager Helen Keevers said the diocese provided a range of support services to abuse victims.
These include referral and payment for counselling services, fortnightly meditation sessions, meetings with Bishop Malone at which a personal apology is offered by the bishop on behalf of the Catholic Church, advocacy with external agencies on behalf of survivors, facilitation of financial settlements or in-kind support and a range of alternative therapies such as music, art and gardening.
sexual abuse
religion
No comments:
Post a Comment