AS reported by the Bendigo Advertiser in two articles on May 20, “notorious” Catholic paedophile priests and the bishops who shielded them remain front and centre of the current hearings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses into Child Sex Abuse, in the diocese of Ballarat.
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It was with some hope that the many victims of criminal clergy heard Cardinal George Pell and top Catholic authorities disavow the church’s get-out-of-jail-free legal defence by which it repeatedly avoided being sued in April of 2014.
Appallingly, however, the Catholic Church has now reneged on its rejection of the “Ellis defence” – a device whereby the church claims it is not a legal entity, therefore cannot be sued – and will continue to block the claims of people raped as children by its clergy.
The Christian Brothers and Marist Brothers claim that they are “powerless” to prevent the Ellis Defence being used in abuse cases which are managed by their primary insurer, Catholic Church Insurance (CCI), despite the fact that the company is owned by the Catholic diocese and religious institutes of Australia.
Somewhat pathetically, Francis Sullivan, CEO of the Truth, Justice and Healing Council advising the church on the Commission hearings, has called for church lawyers to “get with the programme”, and stop using Ellis to thwart justice for traumatised and broken victims.
On its website, CCI claims that it is “a church owned business... able to look past profits to focus on people”.
It also claims to be “committed to ethically and compassionately supporting our members in times of need. This level of care...provides complete peace of mind for the entire church community”.
Maybe now policy holders should think clearly about how much peace of mind they are receiving from the peculiar ethics and compassion of Catholic Church Insurance.
