Catholic Church opts out of redress scheme
The utter hypocrisy of the Catholic Church has now been laid bare as the organisation refuses to join the National Redress Scheme established to assist survivors of institutional child sexual abuse. When I was a deeply committed practising Catholic, a great deal of pride was attached to the church being “universal”. It proudly stated that anywhere in the world the universal nature meant that the same beliefs, structure and authority existed. It was a comforting idea at the time and it was promoted as yet another proof of righteousness. But when the instances of child sexual abuse emerged, this much famed universal entity used a tortuous logic to claim it could not be sued as it did not exist, the so-called Ellis defence. A similarly devious tactic has just been announced. The church will not join the redress scheme but it will allow individual parts of the organisation to decide if they want to opt in, with two years to decide. In my own case of severe abuse, I applied to the church’s Towards Healing program. The final stage of that process was a two-hour cross-examination by two retired police superintendents. Their report validated my claims, but due to the nature of my sexual abuse it was not covered by Towards Healing. Lawyers advised me to apply to the redress scheme but that would be a waste of time as the religious order responsible has declined to join the scheme and now the Catholic Church has also refused to join. I attended the national apology and heard the prime minister make promises about providing justice for survivors. In reality, the redress scheme is so deeply flawed that experienced lawyers find it frustrating. Allowing the Catholic Church to opt out of the scheme mocks any notion of justice.
Scott Morrison should be condemned for establishing this deeply flawed redress scheme and making empty promises to vulnerable survivors. For my part, it makes me more determined to continue the fight and take the Salesian order to court. I’m looking forward to finding out if they exist and, if so, what is their relationship to the “One true, holy and apostolic Catholic Church”.
– Keiran Ryan, Bright, Vic