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Broken Rites Australia helps victims of church-related sex-abuse. By a Broken Rites researcherThe Catholic Church in Australia operates a "Towards Healing" scheme to receive (and respond to) complaints from the church's sex-abuse victims. Towards Healing has been designed in conjunction with the church's lawyers, its accountants and its insurance company. The name "Towards Healing" is the kind of brand-name that could be inspired by any public-relations consultant or advertising firm. In some cases, Towards Healing might give help a victim to "heal" but this help is incidental to the primary object. And research by Broken Rites indicates that the primary object of Towards Healing is to protect the church's assets and its corporate image.
The Towards Healing scheme is conducted in association with the Catholic Church's own insurance company, Catholic Church Insurances Limited (CCI). CCI has stated that this company "carries the burden of salary and support staff" for Towards Healing and, furthermore, that CCI will "provide practical support" for any future fine-tuning of the Towards Healing system
Origins of Towards HealingThe Catholic Church introduced the Towards Healing scheme in Australia in 1996, after Broken Rites Australia had spent three years making the Australian public aware of the problem of church sexual abuse. Many church victims were contacting Broken Rites to report instances of clergy sexual abuse. Some of these victims then reported these crimes to the police, while other victims instructed solicitors to take civil action against the church. Therefore the church established (and publicised) its Towards Healing process, so that victims would contact Towards Healing rather than contacting Broken Rites.The Towards Healing process is not a substitute for reporting a crime to the police, but it can be a substitute for civil litigation. Towards Healing is administered by a Professional Standards Office (PSO), located in each Australian state. The church invites its victims to report details of the abuse, and the PSO then forwards the complaint to the relevant diocese or religious order, which is required to "respond". Too often, the response is evasive. Despite its charitable-sounding name, Towards Healing is really a business procedure, designed to protect the church from the legal liability of compensating some victims or, at least, to limit any liability. If a victim's life has been damaged by church-abuse, the church is not prepared to pay the full and reasonable compensation that would be payable by any other business corporation. Through the Towards Healing system, the church seeks to evade compensation completely, although sometimes the church offers a small discounted settlement if the victim agrees not to pursue litigation for the full amount to which he/she would normally be entitled. To cover any of these modest payouts, the Catholic Church operates its own insurance company, Catholic Church Insurances Limited. The various Catholic dioceses and religious orders in Australia pay an annual premium to CCI to cover any settlements which the church is unable to evade. Catholic Church Insurances Limited is therefore closely associated with the Towards Healing process. The insurance policyThe Catholic Church in Australia revealed in 1993 that it has an insurance policy to cover its liability for the damage suffered by the church's sexual abuse victims. The existence of the insurance policy was revealed by Bishop Peter Connors on ABC TV's "Compass" program on Sunday 27 June 1993. Connors was then the chairman of the church's "special issues" sub-committee, attached to the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference. An article about the insurance policy appeared in that day's edition of the Sydney Sunday Telegraph.In 1993, the expression "special issues" was code for "church sexual abuse". The "special issues" sub-committee had the responsibility of considering damage-control for the church's sex-abuse problem which was becoming a major public issue. Broken Rites possesses a photocopy of a Catholic Church insurance policy, from early the 1990s, with Australian Catholic Insurances Limited. The document says that the policy is for "Special Issues Liability" and it relates to the Special Issues Committee of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference. In the mid-1990s, the "Special Issues" Committee evolved into the church's National Committee for Professional Standards(NCPS), which published a booklet entitled Towards Healing — a cosmetic name that had been coined with a eye to the church's public image as a "helping" institution. The booklet involved input from the church's insurers, as well as its lawyers. In the early years of the NCPS and Towards Healing, the executive director of the NCPS (Sister Angela Ryan) was also a director of Catholic Church Insurances Limited — which many victims might regard as a conflict of interest. The insurance company's roleThe following information was downloaded in 2007 from the website of Catholic Church Insurances Limited (CCI). This material demonstrates that the insurance company is behind Towards Healing and that the company will be involved in any future fine-tuning of Towards Healing.Here is the quote, word for word, from the website:-
"We have developed the knowledge to guide the Church through the processes established under the 'Towards Healing' protocol. Our representative is often the first call for advice. "We also provide advice to Diocesan Finance Managers and Bursars on our own policy protection, recoveries from other insurers, assistance with likely quantum of claims and financial reserves. "Catholic Church Insurances has provided practical support for: * The "Towards Healing" document *The "Integrity in Ministry" document * The "Formation for Ministry" Conference * Membership of the Board and provision of secretarial services to "Encompass Australasia". [This was a "counselling" service for clergy and religious personnel who have sexual-abuse problems but in 2008 the church downgraded this service.] * In the future, the review of "Towards Healing" When Broken Rites checked again in November 2008, the CCI website included another interesting statement: "We [Catholic Church Insurances Limited] exist to protect the Church." Many church-abuse victims have found that Towards Healing, too, exists to protect the church. Tax-free perksCatholic Church Insurances Limited is a profit-making business, which seeks to enjoy some of the perquisites of the tax-exempt status that is given to religious organisations and charities. This is demonstrated in a newspaper item in 2006:-Church faces tax bill by Karen Collier Herald Sun, Melbourne, July 15, 2006
An insurance company owned by the church hoped to escape $63,250 stamp duty on the Spring St apartment bought two years ago. Catholic Church Insurances swore it was exempt because it was a corporation set up for a religious or charitable purpose. But the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal yesterday ruled in favour of the Commissioner of State Revenue. The tribunal heard that although the insurer was at first established for religious and charitable reasons, its business had broadened. No one from Catholic Church Insurances was available for comment yesterday. The CCI website describes a range of insurance cover available for parishes, schools, hospitals and other church institutions, and the broader Catholic community. It also offers international travel insurance for bishops and personal accident insurance for clergy. Although Catholic Church Insurances Limited doesn't like paying taxes, it gladly spends money on the Professional Standards Office in each state to run the Towards Healing system, and it apparently regards this expenditure as a wise investment.
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