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Church sexual abuse is still in the news in Australia
While the Pope was visiting Australia in mid-July 2008, a Sydney jury was hearing charges of child sexual abuse involving yet another Catholic priest, Father Paul Raymond Evans. On 25 July 2008, four days after the Pope left Australia, the jury found Evans guilty. He will be sentenced on a later date. See our story here.
And on 21 July, the day the Pope left Australia, another Australian court heard allegations that a priest (Father Brian Spillane) had sexually abused pupils at a prominent Catholic boys' boarding school. See more here.
And, in the wake of the Pope's visit, see some more current issues about church sexual abuse in Australia here.
Broken Rites Australia – fighting church sex-abuse
Broken Rites helps victims of church-related sexual abuse. The sexual abuse may have occurred in parishes, church schools, church youth clubs or church-affiliated children's homes. The offenders may be priests, ministers, religious brothers, church-school teachers, lay officials or other church personnel.
Broken Rites will advise victims about obtaining justice.
Broken Rites does not charge for its services. It is non-profit and unfunded. It relies on donations from supporters.
Broken Rites is non-denominational. It is not connected with any religious organisation.
Origins of the group
Broken Rites Australia was formed in 1992 and opened a telephone hotline for victims in 1993. We receive calls and emails from throughout Australia.
Broken Rites is staffed by volunteers who are themselves survivors of church-related sexual abuse. We are therefore motivated to help other people – free of charge. Our executive committee includes professional practitioners with expertise in investigation and advocacy.
We have supported victims from the Catholic Church, the Anglican Church and the Uniting Church, as well as from smaller denominations.
About 90 per cent of the victims who have contacted Broken Rites since 1993 have been from a Catholic background.
Male and female victims
It is never too late to report church sex-abuse. Victims should first consult a survivors’ group such as Broken Rites.
Church victims are invariably adults when they contact Broken Rites and their abuse may have occurred many years before.
Of the victims who contact Broken Rites, most say that the abuse happened in childhood (up to the age of 16 or so, depending on the state and the year). Child sex-abuse is always a criminal offence and the offender, if prosecuted, is not allowed to use “consent” as a defence.
Of all the victims who contact Broken Rites, more than half are males. (In an analysis that we conducted of our first 1,000 calls, the ratio of males to females was 55 to 45.)
Among our male callers, the abuse usually happened in childhood.
Among our female callers, most were abused as children but a significant minority were abused as adults while in a vulnerable situation – for example, a single or separated or unhappily married woman who consulted a church pastor and was then sexually abused in the course of counselling. (A psychiatrist who did that would face de-registration, so why not a clergyman?) In some cases, a sick or medicated woman has been abused by a hospital chaplain.
Broken Rites and Catholics
The remainder of this page is of particular interest to victims who were abused in the Catholic Church.
There are many reasons why Broken Rites has encountered so many cases of Catholic Church sex-abuse.
The Catholic Church rejects married priests and women priests. The Catholic Church advertises its priests and religious personnel as being “celibate”. Also, the Catholic Church has traditionally interfered in the bedrooms of its congregation – “no sex outside of marriage”, no contraception, no divorce, no choice in the termination of a pregnancy, and so on. This pious public image has unfortunately caused Catholics to believe that they and their children are “safe” in the hands of “celibate” clergy and religious personnel.
Furthermore, until recently, the Catholic Church has skillfully managed to cover up cases of sexual abuse within its ranks. Too often, Catholic child-victims felt that they were prohibited from reporting the abuse to anyone, even to their parents. Too often, Catholic parents were reluctant to go to the police.
Commonly, Catholic victims maintained a life-long silence about their abuse. If they did report the abuse, often they merely told a church official – perhaps at a bishop’s office or the headquarters of a religious order. But this enabled the church officials to “tip off” their colleague, the offender; and then perhaps he would be transferred to a different parish or a different school or, in some cases, to another diocese, to abuse new victims; or he might be awarded an overseas “study” trip. The offender’s former parishioners (or students) would not be told why Father (or Brother) was leaving his old parish, and the new parish (or school) would not be warned why Father or Brother was arriving. Thus, countless children and vulnerable adults were put at risk.
In Australia, this Catholic cover-up began to break down after Broken Rites began operating in 1993. Broken Rites established, and publicised, a telephone hotline for survivors, and we began receiving calls from thousands of people (mostly Catholics), alerting us to cases of church sex-abuse that had had hitherto been covered up. The first cases we took up resulted in the jailing of several Catholic priests and religious brothers throughout 1994, 1995 and 1996. These convictions created a big impact in the Australian news media. This publicity prompted more survivors, especially those with a Catholic background, to phone us for help. This helps to explain why Broken Rites has been involved in so many Catholic cases. Incidentally, the members of the current Broken Rites executive committee all happen to have had a Catholic childhood.
Reporting church crimes to the police
At the suggestion of Broken Rites, many victims of Catholic clergy have reported their abuse to the police. Broken Rites gave these victims the contact details for the relevant police unit in the victim’s state. Each state has a specialist unit that handles sexual crimes and child abuse. These specialist officers, who are likely to work in plain clothes, are experienced at listening to the survivor’s story and taking down his/her sworn statement. In Victoria, these specialist officers are called the Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (SOCA) unit; in other states, there are different names.
It is the victim, not Broken Rites, who contacts the police. Only the victim can provide the evidence. Broken Rites merely tells the survivor the relevant police phone number.
The specialist police officers have a confidential chat with the survivor and then they tell the survivor whether or not the case is viable. If the survivor wishes to proceed, the police then act on his/her behalf. The survivor has the right to opt out of the investigation process at any time. The prosecution cannot proceed without the survivor’s co-operation.
Sometimes, when survivors consult the police, they find that the police are already interested in this offender because there have been previous victims. Thus, in many of the Broken Rites court cases, the offender was charged in relation to several – or many – victims. This makes it difficult for the offender to get off.
As a result of these Broken Rites police cases, a large number of Catholic priests and brothers have been sentenced in Australian courts. A list of known court cases in recent years appears in our Black Collar Crime page.
In the majority of our Black Collar Crime court cases, the offender pleaded guilty.
In Australia, there is no time limit on reporting a child-sex offence to the police. Australian courts recognise that child victims are often intimidated into silence for many years – perhaps until after they become adults.
When a church sex-offender is convicted, this helps the healing process for victims. Every conviction encourages new victims to contact Broken Rites, alerting us to other offenders. The convictions also help victims to obtain compensation from the church for their pain and suffering (see a later section in this article).
In addition, a number of priests and religious brothers are currently before the courts or awaiting hearings. And others are currently under police investigation.
In some states, a victim may use his or her police statement for claiming compensation under state Crimes Compensation legislation. (Victoria, however, has curtailed this state compensation.) This state compensation is paid by the taxpayers and is not to be confused with a compensation claim against the church (see later sections in this article).
The Catholic Church’s “Towards Healing” process
As a result of the Broken Rites public exposure of Catholic Church sexual abuse from 1993 onwards, the Australian bishops became alarmed about survivors telephoning Broken Rites. Therefore the church established its own telephone hotline to compete with the Broken Rites number.
In 1996, after the high-profile jailings of Catholic priests and brothers, the Australian bishops published a glossy booklet, entitled Towards Healing, promising justice to survivors. The church established its own procedure for handling sex-abuse complaints, to be administered by a National Committee for Professional Standards ( NCPS). It also established a Professional Standards Resource Group ( PSRG) in each state to do the actual processing of complaints. This process applies in all of Australia’s thirty-odd Catholic dioceses (except the Melbourne diocese) and also in the hundred-or-so religious orders.
Unfortunately, the Catholic Church’s complaints structure is overwhelmingly "in-house"; it has an obvious shortage of non-Catholic members. It is male-dominated and clergy-dominated. The NCPS typically includes a bishop or two, an influential priest or two, a religious Brother representing male religious orders, and a religious Sister representing female religious orders.
Furthermore, the national committee has been headed for years by a nun who has been simultaneously a board member of the Catholic Church’s insurance company – the company that finances the church’s compensation payouts to victims. This woman’s dual role is a clear conflict of interest.
One drawback of this "in-house" system is that a state PSRG is likely to contain a member (e.g., a priest or a religious brother) who is a colleague of the alleged offender in a case. And there is no member representing (or advocating for) victims.
It is usually worthwhile for victims to report their abuse to the PSRG but it is best to consult Broken Rites first. Broken Rites can inform a survivor about his/her rights and also about how to avoid various pitfalls in the PSRG system.
Broken Rites has a list containing the contact address for the PSRG convenor in each state (or for Melbourne diocese’s separate system). Victims can phone us on 03 9457 4999 -- or email us -- for further information.
Obtaining compensation from the church
Towards Healing is intended as an in-house alternative to a civil court action. In 1996, Church spokesmen promised that Towards Healing will provide compensation to victims. The NCPS foundation chairman, Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, said the Towards Healing protocol "included just and fair compensation for victims" (Courier Mail, Brisbane, 12 December 1996). The NCPS foundation executive director, Father David Cappo, said "compensation would be 'on the table' in meetings with victims and no limit had been set" (Herald Sun, Melbourne, 12 December 1996).
Broken Rites is skeptical about the amounts of compensation that are being paid under the Towards Healing process. These amounts are less than the victim would obtain by suing the church for damages in the civil courts. One reason why the Catholic Church established the Towards Healing process was to limit the church’s liability to pay compensation to victims.
When a diocese or religious order makes a payout to a survivor, the victim signs a Deed of Release, acknowledging that this is a full and final settlement and absolving the diocese or religious order from any further damages claims by this victim. This document does not prevent victim from reporting the crime to the police or from talking to the media. The only stipulation is that the survivor must not reveal the payment.
A separate system regarding Melbourne priests
The Melbourne Catholic diocese has procedures which differ from the rest of Victoria and Australia. The Melbourne diocese does not participate in the Victorian PSRG. The Victorian PSRG is confined to religious orders and the state's three country dioceses.
In 1996 the Melbourne diocese appointed a senior barrister, Peter O'Callaghan QC, to investigate complaints concerning priests and other personnel who come directly under the control of the Archbishop of Melbourne. Generally this means diocesan priests (that is, priests ministering in parishes) – not religious-order priests (in monasteries etc). Complaints about religious-order priests – or complaints about religious brothers – in Melbourne should go to the Victorian PSRG.
Mr O'Callaghan has the power to recommend that the Melbourne diocese suspend or remove an offender, and he has made this recommendation in some cases but not in others.
In proven cases of abuse, Mr O'Callaghan can refer victims to a Melbourne compensation panel which decides how much should be paid to each victim. This is an ex gratia payment, which is a substitute for a court damages action, and it is a smaller amount than would be awarded by the Supreme Court. Amounts so far paid out in Melbourne range from $10,000 up to a rare maximum of $55,000, with a typical amount being about $30,000. To obtain Melbourne's ex gratia payments, it is not essential for a victim to engage a solicitor.
The Melbourne diocesan payouts involve victims signing a Deed of Release, acknowledging that this is a full and final settlement and absolving the diocese from any further damages claims, but this does not prevent victims from reporting the crime to the police or from talking to the media.
Broken Rites considers that the Melbourne scheme, under Peter O'Callaghan QC, better than the Towards Healing system that applies in the rest of Australia.
Suing a Catholic diocese or religious order
If a victim is not satisfied with the amount of compensation offered through the Towards Healing process (or through the Melbourne diocese process), he/she can reject the offer and then launch a civil action through solicitors, seeking damages from the particular diocese or religious order which inflicted the offender on the victims. The action must be taken against a specific church agency, such as the Marist Brothers or the Diocese of Woop Woop, not "the Catholic Church" as a whole.
These damages claims are not easy. Generally, the church’s lawyers put up a fierce fight, although many such claims have resulted in an acceptable settlement. If a settlement of this kind is made, it is done “out-of-court” -- because the church wants to avoid ending up in court.
These civil actions do not prevent the victims from notifying the police about the crimes. In fact, a successful police prosecution helps the victim immensely because, when the offender pleads guilty (as often happens) or is found guilty by a jury, this means that the victim's damages claim is strengthened.
Broken Rites top stories
See examples of some successful Broken Rites cases here
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