THE Catholic Church is being urged to reveal the full extent of child sexual abuse by its clergy in Victoria.
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The Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA) said the church should provide accurate details of the number of victims to the state parliamentary inquiry
“The Catholic Church confirmed on Friday that it accepted the authenticity of 849 complaints against 269 male and female clergy and lay persons, of whom 114 were Brothers from various unspecified Catholic orders,” ALA spokesman Dr Andrew Morrison said.
“That is far from the complete story because two-thirds of the Victorian diocese were not included in those horrific figures and the church is aware of at least another 90 cases,” Dr Morrison said.
“It is not acceptable to wait for the royal commission to call for this material and then start the process of producing it. ” He said the ALA wanted frank disclosure of all of the abuse and of the abusers in each diocese of the church throughout Australia.
In its final submission to the inquiry last week, the Catholic Church revised the number of abuse complaints it had upheld from 618 to 849. The new figures, dating to the 1950s, follow an analysis of documents held by various orders.
malexander@fairfaxmedia.com.au
