Saturday, April 21, 2012

Victim groups call on Catholic Church to lay bare its archives on child sex abuse

THE Catholic Church will be asked to surrender decades of confidential records on child sex abuse by its members during the Victorian inquiry into the handling of criminal behaviour within religious and community groups.

Victim groups called for the church to lay bare its archives on child sex abuse, the extent of which has shamed the church, led to hundreds and possibly thousands of victims and scores of suicides.

The inquiry will be the first external examination of the church's "Melbourne response", in which allegations of abuse by clergymen are referred to an independent commissioner rather than police, and victims offered compensation and counselling.

This approach, adopted in 1996, is unique to Victoria, where two of Australia's most notorious pedophile priests abused children for several decades.

Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart last night welcomed the inquiry, which he said would "clear the air around this distressing issue of sexual abuse in Victoria . . . I reaffirm the archdiocese's position that we have nothing to hide from such an independent inquiry and I am confident that any inquiry into the archdiocese's Melbourne response process will confirm this," he said.

The Baillieu government has backed a wide-ranging parliamentary investigation into all churches and community groups rather than singling out the Catholic faith. It rejected calls for a royal commission into the abuse.

The broad terms of the inquiry will ensure it hears evidence from Melbourne's Jewish community about allegations of child abuse within the ultra-orthodox Yeshiva College, which is the subject of a Melbourne Magistrates Court committal hearing against a former security guard at the school and extradition proceedings against a former teacher soon to be released from a US prison.

Manny Waks, one of 11 complainants in committal proceedings against former Yeshiva security guard David Cyprys, currently facing 51 charges of abuse, said: "While over the years, based on a range of reports, the Catholic Church has been the major public culprit in the way they have handled sexual abuse allegations, clearly they are not the only ones within the religious sphere."

The parliamentary inquiry will have the power to compel witnesses to appear and to summons documents, effectively bowing to demands of campaigners that the Catholic Church be forced to open up its books to scrutiny.

Victoria's Attorney-General, Robert Clark, said that failure to adhere to requests by the committee would expose individuals and organisations to contempt provisions, with potential indefinite jail sentences if found guilty by the parliament.

Anthony Foster, a campaigner against abuse after two daughters were assaulted by a Melbourne priest _ with tragic consequences _ said it was vital the committee used all its powers.

Mr Foster said the inquiry needed "real bite" to ensure all records were handed over by the Catholic Church.

Victoria Police has accused the church of hindering inquiries into possible child sex cases by not reporting suspicions to detectives.