Towards Healing and Melbourne Response
Towards Healing and Melbourne Response are two internal processes developed by the Australian Catholic Church as a response to the increase number of allegations that had been made against the Church. They Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse had shown in 2013 that by 1996, the Catholic Church had received more than 2215 complaints nationwide . As a response to these allegations and the public revelations in the late 1980s of the extent and nature of the sexual abuse of children by clergy members, the Church saw the need to establish a just and effective mechanism for responding to disclosures of child sexual abuse made to Church authorities. Consequently, in 1996 the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference promulgated ‘Towards Healing: Principles and Procedures in Responding to Complaints of Abuse against Personnel of the Catholic Church in Australia’ (Towards Healing).
In short, Towards Healing is seen as a pastoral response by the Catholic Church. Its main function is to meet victims and survivors primarily in a pastoral relationship as opposed to an adversarial, legal approach. The Catholic Church states that its intention is to focus first on the person in need rather than on the question of liability. Therefore, it is in this spirit that the Catholic Church offers counselling at the beginning of the process.
The Archdiocese of Melbourne also developed its own process called the Melbourne Response. The Melbourne Response was established in 1996 by the then Archbishop George Pell to compensate victims of sexual abuse within the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne. The main objective of the Melbourne Response has been to contain the cost of sexual abuse claims. At first, the maximum payable amount was initially $50,000 which was later increased to $75,000.
However, it is important to note that both processes have been heavily criticised by the Royal Commission for the following reasons:
that the Catholic Church has been more concerned over its reputation rather than adequately compensating victims;
that payments made to victims were small and inadequate (compared to what victims could obtain in court); and
that many victims that went through either process were harshly treated and pressured into accepting unfair settlements and deeds of release.
Hundreds of victims of institutional sexual abuse by the Catholic Church who have signed unfair deeds and agreements in relation to not taking legal action, now have the opportunity to overturn those deeds in Victoria, Queensland, NSW, South Australia, and Western Australia and to seek a fairer and more reasonable outcome and settlement.
We invite former victims of sexual abuse by the Catholic Church and who are unsatisfied with their experience with Towards Healing and Melbourne Response to contact us and we will explain what options are available to them.
Call us or complete the confidential enquiry form.