Cardinal George Pell has abruptly changed course on the liability of the Roman Catholic church for sexual abuse by it's priests. He now says : " My own view is that the church in Australia should be able to be sued in cases of this kind ". It was Bishop Pell who directed the church's lawyers to refuse a compensation claim for $ 100,000 from John Ellis for abuse by a priest and spend $ 1.5 million of the church's money to win what became known as " the Ellis defence " !
The NSW Court of Appeal found that the church was so structured that it could not be sued as an entity and it could not be liable for priest's abuses. The church has relentlessly used this defence to thwart legal action by the victims of priests, but in recent times it has doled out compensation in return for non disclosure pledges.
Absolutely nothing changes unless the church legally changes the structure which hides it's property and cash behind a wall of trusts that give effect to the Ellis defence. The fact that it is now dispensing compensation limits the amount involved to whatever the church decides to offer. That is something that should be decided by a court, deciding the matter at arms length and with total impartiality from those involved.
Critics of the Catholic church will be waiting to see if action is taken to restructure the legal basis on which the church stands to remove this " Ellis Defence " and return the compensation issue to the court system. Unless this is done, Cardinal Pell's change of direction will simply be the musings of a church elder.
Another issue that remains cloaked in ambiguity - is the legal requirement that the church will report all matters of priestly sexual abuse to the police. In the past, the church simply covered up illicit sexual activity and in many cases moved the priest to a new parish - where further offences often occurred.
It seems to be a battle between the church and state. Quite clearly, a law breach by any citizen of Australia must be reported to police and the matter resolved in a court. The church seems to think that priestly discipline remains a church matter and in most cases declines to hand the matter to police for investigation - and outcome !
This requires an edict from the church in which the position is crystal clear. It is the duty of the church to obey the laws of Australia - and that must be an instruction from the Vatican. At the same time, Australian legal authorities must insist that whenever a crime is not reported to the police, those guilty of this omission will be charged and feel the full effect of the law.
We are now hearing the right words, but nothing changes unless action follows !
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