Catholic Church case studies published The Royal Commission last week published its findings in three case studies involving the Catholic Church: Report of Case Study 4: The experiences of four survivors with the Towards Healing process Report of Case Study No. 6: The response of a primary school and the Toowoomba Catholic Education Office to the conduct of Gerard Byrnes Report of Case Study 8: Mr John Ellis's experience of the Towards Healing process and civil litigation In its report on Case Study 4 the Royal Commission has indicated that systemic issues concerning Towards Healing will be the subject of further consideration including examination of the separation of the responsible Church authority from investigation/assessment of a complaint, the separation of the pastoral response from the payment of reparation and the involvement of the Church authority in decisions about the amount of reparation paid. The Toowoomba case study examined the response by the principal and other members of staff of a Catholic primary school in Toowoomba to allegations of child sexual abuse made against a teacher. It also looked at the response by officers of the Catholic Education Office, Diocese of Toowoomba (TCEO), to information supplied by the primary school principal regarding the allegations. The Commissioners found that then Toowoomba Bishop William Morris responded appropriately when advised of the offending and the response of the school and TCEO to earlier allegations, by commissioning an independent investigation, appointing an independent mediator for the purpose of assessing and advising on reparations and establishing a Child Abuse Response Team to advise on improvements to child protection. In the Ellis case study the Royal Commission found the Archdiocese of Sydney in some respects failed Mr Ellis in its conduct of the Towards Healing process. It also agreed with Cardinal Pell's assessment that the Archdiocese had not acted fairly from a Christian point of view in the way it defended the litigation brought by Mr Ellis. |
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