Tag Archives: culture

Catholic Church paid $276m to sex abuse victims in Australia

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The Catholic Church paid $276 million to victims of alleged sex abuse committed by priests in Australia over decades, an investigation says.

Critics say the system of payments is unfair and not all victims receive the same opportunities or compensation.

Since 2013, the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has been holding hearings on alleged Catholic Church sex abuse of children – mostly boys.

“Catholic Church authorities made total payments of [AU]$276.1 million [US$213million] in response to claims of child sexual abuse received between 1 January 1980 and 28 February 2015, including monetary compensation, treatment, legal and other costs,” the statement from the commission said on Thursday.

Catholic Church sex abuse Australia Pope pedophilia

On average, sex abuse victims received AU$91,000 in compensation, it stated.

The Christian Brothers religious community “reported both the highest total payment and the largest number of total payments $48.5 million paid in relation to 763 payments at an average of approximately $64,000 per payment,” the document said.null

The report added that the Jesuits “had the highest average total payment at an average of approximately $257,000 per payment (of those Catholic Church authorities who made at least 10 payments).”

“Even though the church has paid $270 million and it took a long time to get its act together to do that, there’s no doubt the system of paying people and compensating them is best done independently of the church through a national redress scheme,”the Church’s Truth Justice and Healing Council chief executive, Francis Sullivan, told AAP.

Sullivan said that not all victims have equal opportunities or compensation.

“Some congregations pay far more than others. Some dioceses pay far more than others. It’s still not a fair system,” he added.

It’s a picture of great unfairness and inequity between survivors across Australia depending on where they placed their claim,” Helen Last, CEO of In Good Faith Foundation, which represents 460 abuse victims, told Reuters.

The commission was established in 2013 to investigate instances and allegations of child sexual abuse in Australia. This month’s report says that between January 1980 and February 2015, 93 Catholic Church authorities received claims of child sexual abuse from 4,445 people.

It managed to identify 1,880 alleged perpetrators, who included 597 (32 percent) ‘religious brothers,’572 (30 percent) priests, 543 (29 percent) lay people, and 96 (5 percent) ‘religious sisters.’ At least 90 percent of the alleged perpetrators were male, according to the report.

Sexual abuse scandals have long dogged the Catholic Church. In 2014, the Vatican said 3,420 credible accusations of sexual abuse committed by priests had been referred to it over the past 10 years, and that 824 clerics were defrocked as a result.

In January, Pope Francis called for “zero tolerance”towards sex crimes against children, and condemned it as “a sin that shames” both the perpetrators and those who cover up for their crimes.

RETRIEVED http://hangthebankers.com/catholic-church-paid-sex-abuse-victims-australia/

How much do the elite take care of their own

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From ‘When British Royals Are Pedophiles, It’s Called Peccadilloes’ (Frank Report 2019), James Saville fronts the article (as follows).

James Saville

Through reading of this article, attention is drawn again and again by the following second paragraph:

Watch the deck being reshuffled over and over again as the “elite” take care of their own.

Despite receiving intense amounts of counselling, therapies, medications and distractions: many CSA Victims continue to speak about the intensity of their CARC Session and-or their NRS Submission, ripple effects within marriages and families who’re reluctant to admit that these (unkown) Abuses “ever happened” (‘under their responsibility’), disputes and victim-blaming that may result when the CSA Victim has to retell/relive these past experiences to uninvolved relations ‘for interest sake’, splits that may often be blamed on the CSA Victim for ‘being the needle in the haystack’ of their family separation.

  • many CSA Victims continue to speak about the intensity of their CARC Session and-or;
  • their NRS Submission;
  • ripple effects within marriages and families who’re reluctant to admit that these (unkown) Abuses “ever happened” (‘under their responsibility’);
  • common descriptions of young victims being so targeted, that they did not even know of what parts of the human anatomy were involved: “before I had ever even heard of sex or knew what anatomy was used” (Shivani, 5th paragraph, 2019);
  • patterns of predators should always be reported + shared with others in that community type (just as this RCbbc.blog). this allows for cautious advice to be shared with others (previous, existing + potential);
  • disputes and victim-blaming that may result when the CSA Victim has to retell/relive these past experiences to uninvolved relations ‘for interest sake’l;
  • an earlier victim of a known CSA Predator has gone from being victim, to re-enacting these same behaviours on a new victim. these actions should not occurr + Police should be contacted ASAP;
  • splits that may often be blamed on the CSA Victim for ‘being the needle in the haystack’ of their family separation;

Hike these are only some of the potential ‘haystack needles’, they do describe some of the experiences that some of the BBC Students had experienced, witnessed or ignored during their enrolment. These articles were never meant to make accusations, only to provide another POV in the often controlled world of ‘free media exposure’. Comments are welcomed, yet relevant threats will now be reported through applicable QPS CPIU channels (previous OCA comments included). As overlapping instances of Qld Baptist’s SDBC have been cited, these warnings are also made via SDBC_RC.

Prince Charles with Sir James, suspected of being a long standing pedophile.

BBC. (2020). Brisbane Boys’ College. https://www.bbc.qld.edu.au

Commonwealth of Australia. (2017). Child Abuse Royal Commission. https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au

Department of Social Services. (2020). National Redress Scheme. https://www.nationalredress.gov.au

OCA. (2020). Brisbane Boys’ College Old Collegians’ Association. http://oldcollegians.com.au

Qld Police Service. (2020). Child Protection Investigation Service. https://www.police.qld.gov.au/units/victims-of-crime/child-protection

SDBC_RC Blog. (2020). Sunnybank District Baptist Church Blog. https://sdbcrc.wordpress.com

Shivani. (2019). When British Royals Are Pedophiles, It’s Called Peccadilloes. https://frankreport.com/2019/08/13/when-british-royals-are-pedophiles-its-called-peccadilloes/

Royal Commission and Brisbane Boys’ College. 2020.

Overlapping Institutions 2

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Churches and Schools

Some Private Schools in NSW are supported outright by Religious bodies, also sharing traits with many of Brisbane’s CSA experiences (GPS). Coupled with the ‘Teacher-swapping’ habitus of GM Cujes and his involvement in the CARC, there’s been withdrawal of School Seniority from Catholic Schools and Change-of-Names. The ‘Christian Brothers’ (seriously, not satire) had withdrawn their church leadership (ABCNews 2019), appointing laymen to these Headmaster roles. As there had already been suspicious reputations of secrecy and cloister (ABCnews 2019 & BRA 2020). Thankfully the separations into ‘good’ Patients and ‘bad’ Patients extended to occasional medical checks at local hospitals. In keeping with canon law to remain completely anonymous to outside authorities (King 2019). Ironically the Patients who made the majority of the ‘bad’ group, were Catholic Christian Brothers. Seemingly, like persona forced themselves to flock together leading to give a negative impression on nurses who were used to serving a wider public audience.

Brother Lawrence Murphy (right) abused John Lawrence (sitting) while he was at the Castledare Boys’ Home.(Supplied: District Court Of WA). Image retrieved from Google search : Catholic _ icon/image.

Unsurprisingly, George Pell had perjured himself in his Defense of Gerald Ridsdale. As immortalised by the following photo, Pell would later be acquitted by an overruling Australian High Court (2020). Potentially on legal-technicalities, the multiple Judges overruled a previous Guilty Verdict of Pell. Now in the Catholic’s Vatican, Pell may be enjoying his escape from judicial trials yet as any CSA Victim-Survivour knows, their actions will leave their mark until the end.

George Pell (right) with now-disgraced priest Gerald Ridsdale in 1993

Ironically, GM Cujes (although denouncing CARC allegations, 2016) achieved Headmaster of Trinity College. Previously St Patrick’s College, later renamed Trinity Catholic College by the Catholic Church. Changing names (persons, businesses & institutions) is frequently associated with desires to create distance from historic events of the previous namesake. Psychology, Justice and other fields acknowledge these facts. Unsurprisingly, GM Cujes had preferred to be referred to by his middle name whilst Headmaster of BBC (1990-1996). Under Trinity appointment, Graham appears missing as their preference. AK Buchanan (‘Butch’) used similar choices between his hunting-playgrounds (BBC & IGS): (A) Kim at BBC and Anthony K at Ipswich Grammar School.

REFERENCES

CSA and Lying

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As recently experienced, a catchup with a long-term friend covered “what have you been up to?” I automatically responded with

In rapid response, my friend seemed to repeat vague recollections of previous (late 1990’s) encounters with Senior Catholic Staff. Through given examples, her memory was able to more accurately frame there timeframe-persons-summary of what she’d only been a 3rd person in – Good Cop, Bad Cop took on a whole new POV. Following this, retrieval of related Counselling-Justice-Advocacy information began. Following are just a few of these relevant to our growing CSA predicament (Catholic).

In the back of my mind, I could already sense that v serious ‘parallels’ existed between her Nursing-Disclosure situation and that of my experienced (2015) family-intentional lies (“I lied, jurist to keep your (sibling) happy”, admitted while hospital medicated).

REFERENCES

DuckDuckGo searches have been used to resource each of these ‘Medical’ and ‘when lying isn’t a sin’ images.

Creativity’s CSA Impact | performing arts + child sexual abuse

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Long suspected throughout many CSA Victims’ childhoods, in 2018 Scientific Alert published the following article on the proven-identified link: “Scientists Have Found a Strong Link Between a Terrible Childhood And Being Intensely Creative”. Opening with ‘exposure to abuse, neglect or a dysfunctional family’ throughout a victim’s childhood, expands to join together how these impacts have a clear linkage. Complemented through Counselling and verifying some Victims’ long-held suspicions, this Article gives another (Scientific/Journalistic) POV – which may also satisfy those of us who often felt disbelieved, palmed-away or ignored. We knew what we were/had survived; we just didn’t know how to word, or should I say ‘Scientifically categorise’ what we ‘endured’! … WTF ?!!!… we were only young, innocent kids at their time: the perfect hunting ground, for these Criminal-Pedophilic-Dirty-(typically)-Senior/Old-(WO)-Men.

I apologise for going off on an emotional-outburst, yet this is a toned-down form of many of the conversations had with Victims, Parents and Relations; Thankfully, their mutual aim is to protect this triggering news from younger Siblings; As horrifying as this possibility is to consider, perhaps this is (another) layer of defence which the Criminal-Pedophilic-Dirty-(typically)-Senior/Old-(WO)-Men know of + exploit. Having (naturally?) always having entered the Arts, this Article gives many reasons and answers questions, yet more interests may be shown. Perhaps this is an underlying advantage of Creativity, yet CSA Survivours I’ve spent any time with each have their own ‘checklists’ to work through. At this point, I’ll aim to re-publish the complete Article ASAP, in addition to again providing the Private + Confidential Counsellors. Of great interest, is the amount of focus I am working through with my Counsellor on the “minor and inconsiderate” events, which are actually mounting up to explain the devastating impact which may result.

Hopes are that each of you, your loved ones and each of our ecosystems copes alright throughout this COVID19  Pandemic.

/                 /                 /                 RECENT SEARCH

Performing artists who were exposed to abuse, neglect or a dysfunctional family as a child might experience their creative process more … https://www.sciencealert.com/childhood-adversity-linked-to-intense-creative-process

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REFERENCE

Starr, M. (2018). Scientists Have Found a Strong Link Between a Terrible Childhood And Being Intensely Creative. https://www.sciencealert.com/childhood-adversity-linked-to-intense-creative-process

Elite Sydney private schools face sexual abuse suits

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By Jacob Saulwick

Updated April 6, 2016 — 11.19amfirst published at 7.04am

The royal commission into child sexual abuse has triggered a fresh wave of litigation against Sydney private and Catholic schools.

Sydney lawyer Ross Koffel says he has filed 10 claims on behalf of abuse victims against elite schools, including De La Salle College Revesby Heights, Knox Grammar School, The Scots College and the previous administrators of Waverley College, and more are in the works.

Prestigious private schools around Australia are facing multimillion dollar lawsuits from alleged victims of sexual abuse. Vision courtesy ABC News 24.

Mr Koffel said he been contacted by multiple former students across Sydney before and after representing former Knox students at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse last year.

“It just seemed to me to be the same problem in school after school after school, and yes the surprise to us was how many schools, how many students are affected,” Mr Koffel told the ABC’s7.30 program.

Sydney lawyer Ross Koffel has filed 10 claims on behalf of abuse victims against elite schools.CREDIT:ABC 7.30

Mr Koffel said he had been particularly affected by the abuse at Knox, where he studied.

“I had a recollection of the places, the rooms, the school, the playgrounds where it occurred,” he said.

“I knew a lot of the teachers by name, and I was just completely floored.”

One of Mr Koffel’s clients, Adrian Coorie, is suing De La Salle College for damages.

Former De La Salle College Revesby Heights student Adrian Coorie is suing his old school over his alleged sexual abuseCREDIT:ABC 7.30

Mr Coorie alleges the school knew, or ought to have known, that a former teacher, Errol Swayne, was a habitual sexual abuser of boys and failed to ensure Mr Coorie’s safety as a student.

Mr Coorie was encouraged to make the claim after telling the royal commission of the assaults he allegedly suffered at the hands of Mr Swayne, who lived on a caravan on the school grounds.

“Sometimes you can think that you are the only person that something has happened to but that’s not the case,” Mr Coorie told 7.30.

“And that’s where that was confirmed that other people had already been there and spoken to the royal commission about the same person, so that was a bit of an eye-opener too,” he said.

Mr Swayne, who has since killed himself, allegedly showed Mr Coorie pornographic films in the caravan on weekends, and molested him in his office during school hours.

Mr Koffel told Fairfax Media his clients were seeking damages ranging from hundreds of thousands of dollars to claims in the millions.

“That in each case varies but it is made up of past medical expenses, past economic loss, future economic loss – it’s a complicated formula,” he said.

“There’s obviously a systemic problem amongst all of these schools and one hopes that taking these actions, our clients who are the victims not only will be compensated but will get apologies from various institutions and recognition that the school has done the wrong thing by them,” he said.

“The outcome hopefully is that each school will have better procedures in the future so it will never happen again.”

Mr Koffel said three of the cases were against Scots, in relation to the school’s former maths department head John Joseph Beckett, who has already been convicted of the assaults.

The claim against the school is that it did not protect students from teachers.

“They had a responsibility to look after their teachers and we say that the school is liable for the actions of their teachers,” Mr Koffel said.

In a statement to the ABC, the Presbyterian Church of Australia on behalf of Scots College said it did not want to make any statement that may impinge on the court process.

“We support those who have come forward to tell their story of what happened to them and we respect their courage in doing so,” the statement said.

A Knox Grammar spokesman told the ABC he was unable to comment while the claims were before the court.

A spokeswoman for Waverley College said the school was aware of a claim in the Supreme Court regarding an accusation of abuse.

“This claim has been filed against the Trustees of the Christian Brothers, the previous administrators of the school, as distinct from the school’s current administration,” the spokesman said.

“The Christian Brothers ceased administration of the College in 2007 and as such we have no records of the alleged events. Waverley College has zero tolerance for abuse of any kind,” she said.

The action against De La Salle College, Revesby Heights, is against De La Salle Brothers, which had governance of the school at the time.

A spokeswoman for De La Salle Brothers Australia said she could not comment on matters before the courts. 

“More broadly the De La Salle Brothers are committed to working compassionately and cooperatively with complainants in the civil process,” the spokeswoman said. 

Separately, the royal commission said in November it wanted to hear from former students from either The King’s School or Tudor House Preparatory School with information about abuse.

❏ Support is available by phoning Lifeline 13 11 14; National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service 1800 737 732; Men’s Referral Service 1300 766 491.

RETRIEVED https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/elite-sydney-private-schools-face-sexual-abuse-suits-20160406-gnzbam.html

The plot thickens …

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Having re-watched a favourite TV Series (Da Vinci Demons), attention was drawn to something that’s now screaming out louder and loader. Despite the appalling deception, tomfoolery & murders committed in the times of Leonardo Da Vinci (15th Cen.) in this staged re-enactment, the common powers possessed by the Catholic Church was always taken for granted. Social dynamics included a default framework of the church’s primary inclusion in the basic ecosystem. Australia’s recent mis-focus on Captain Cook, ahead of Captain Flinders & Bungaree. Each summarises how History has been remembered, not genuinely proven.

Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse had been the Initial national confrontation, followed by numerous other global countries addressing this common issue. Catholic Vatican’s Pope (Francis) has at least begun publicly addressing this issue, after Millenia of denials-hiding evidence-moving wrongdoers & almost a century of rewritten Papal Orders advocating sins being hidden. As mammoth an issue this is, what’s becoming apparent is the immensity of addressing it. The lives of these children is paramount, as is the resulting residual impacts these Sexual Abuses has had. Postings such as these help share some of these factual truths.

As numerous bodies of Surviving Victims, Medical, Commercial & Community bodies provide help, News reports in the Journalism of individual to broad scale cases & each country offering their own nuances of interpreting & reacting to these ordeals – the immensity of this understanding also risks being ‘swept under the carpet‘ as CSA had been, to grow to what it had. Together, we need to openly address this publicly, openly, transparently & suitably as possible. Groups such as this RoyalCommBBC are only getting started on our mission & via your simply sharing these posts about your contacts – another Survivour may remember things & get suitable help, pictures may remind a family of an unsolved mystery or News of someone being caught out for inappropriate behaviour triggers off flashbacks leading to arrest. We hope this helps out open up our lives.

Planning for the Silly Season

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Planning for the #SillySeason, with Medication & having an Action Plan are v helpful: prepare early! #MentalHealth #abcnews

Delays in Institutions run similar to Facebook tactics

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“Delay, Deny and Deflect: How Facebook’s Leaders Fought Through Crisis” is what a New York Times Article is titled, followed by the overplayed icon photograph:

Facebook has gone on the attack as one scandal after another — Russian meddling, data sharing, hate speech — has led to a congressional and consumer backlash.CreditCreditTom Brenner for The New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/14/technology/facebook-data-russia-election-racism.html

Having paid significant attention to moments that FB-Facebook has appeared on Australia’s ABC, I recognised similarities between one monolith & that of church Institutions in Australia. National Redress Scheme is applicable to any Child Abuse Survivour, yet hearing of deaths before Compensation &/or Redress is made seems to reignite the fire.

The long, painful wait for abuse survivors to see redress

Please read through the linked Article above: “The long, painful wait …” to read information such as the following:

“These figures confirm what we have known; there is huge inequity between the Catholic Church’s wealth and their responses to survivors,” said Helen Last, chief executive of the In Good Faith Foundation, which supports abuse survivors.

“The 600 survivors registered for our foundation’s services continue to experience minimal compensation and lack of comprehensive care in relation to their church abuses. They say their needs are the lowest of church priorities.”

Healy said the church’s meeting the claims of survivors whose complaints of abuse were upheld was “amongst its highest priorities”. He said that since that report the church had paid an extra $17.2 million to survivors.

The Age’s investigation also calls into question the privileges the church enjoys, including exemptions from nearly all forms of taxation and billions of dollars in government funding each year to run services – $7.9 billion for its Australian schools alone in 2015.

It involved obtaining property valuations from 36 Victorian councils, including most of the Melbourne metropolitan area, Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo, many under freedom of information.

It identified more than 1860 church-owned properties with “capital improved value” (land plus buildings) of just under $7 billion.

SOURCES: https://www.theage.com.au/interactive/2018/catholic-inc-what-the-church-is-really-worth/

https://newviralstory.com/the-long-painful-wait-for-abuse-survivors-to-see-redress/

Comparison: Cannes and BBC

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The powerful speech @AsiaArgento during the closing ceremony of Cannes. “I was raped here in 1997 by Harvey Weinstein.” Going on to describe Cannes as HW’s hunting ground; many BBC past Students & their Families will remember how BBC was remembered as a ‘hunting ground’. Even the term “hunting ground” can be remembered in some of BBC’s (un-admitted) Offenders of the 1990’s. Perhaps this why any public announcements correlate with a psychological effect, that’s been hidden to some level. Even decades and decades after the events happened, any reminders of them may trigger some reaction(s).

This is where LivingWell have provided their resources, suitable to these male Survivours and their Families. “We all benefit from maps of life’s territories. We do not live our lives in straight lines” is from the Indigenous themed clip ‘No Straight Lines’.