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Father of Emma, girl raped by priest speaks out , “dwelling crankily… on old wounds".
Raped girls' parents seek audience with Pope during World Youth Day in Sydney.
Thu, 17 Jul 2008
A father whose daughters were raped by a Catholic priest talks about their ordeal.
World Youth Day (WYD) has again been overshadowed by the Catholic Church's handling of sexual abuse cases, with Cardinal George Pell accused of holding up compensation claims, after a WYD coordinator said victi More..ms were “dwelling crankily… on old wounds".
Emma Foster committed suicide earlier this year – she battled with
depression since she was raped by a Melbourne Catholic priest since she
was in primary school.
Her sister Katie was also abused and the Foster family claim Cardinal George Pell stalled their compensation claim when he was Archbishop of Melbourne.
Outside a WYD service, Cardinal Pell has rejected the claims.
He says he apologised to the family in 1998 and organised counselling, which the Church partly paid for.
"We offered them some financial help. We also offered them counselling for Emma."
"Emma availed herself of that counselling for ten years and we contributed substantially towards those counselling costs."
He then left Melbourne in 2001, before the civil action was launched.
But he says he is saddened by her tragic death and is still sorry for what happened.
“My apology still stands,” he said.
“I repeat it. It has never been withdrawn.”
Cardinal Pell's statement comes after an Australian World Youth Day coordinator accused the sexual abuse victims of “dwelling crankily… on old wounds.”
Bishop Anthony Fisher was responding to questions about the report on ABC’s Lateline which featured Anthony Foster, and his daughters.
But today Bishop Fisher was dismissive.
"All I've seen is the reports in the newspapers today,” he told reporters this morning.
"Happily, I think most of Australia was enjoying [and] delighting in the beauty and goodness of these young people and the hope for us doing these sorts of things better in the future, as we saw last night, rather than dwelling crankily - as a few people are doing - on old wounds."
He went on to say Cardinal Pell and the Catholic Church were doing all they could to deal appropriately with sexual abuse claims.
"The cardinal has led in the church in this country in trying to put in better and better processes to deal for these things so that we get it right," he said.
"In the meantime, [we will] do all we can to prevent this happening again and to bring healing and justice to the victims."
But Advocates for Survivors of Child Abuse say they are highly disturbed by Bishop Fisher’s remarks.
"Emma [O’Donnell] was raped by a priest whose prolific child sex offences had been overlooked by the Catholic Church for decades," ASCA Director Michael Salter said in a statement.
"Emma spent many years battling depression, anorexia, self-harm and drug abuse before giving up hope.
"The grief of Emma’s family and friends is overwhelming."
Stop 'dwelling crankily on old wounds'... on sex abuse: bishop Anthony Fisher
Jano Gibson
July 16, 2008
Remember his evil words, to the survivors of Sexual Abuse
and his face
Bishop Anthony Fisher and, inset, Katherine, Emma and Anthony Foster.
The co-ordinator of World Youth Day, Bishop Anthony Fisher, today responded to a question about Cardinal George Pell's handling of a sexual abuse case by saying people are "dwelling crankily ... on old wounds".
And this afternoon Cardinal Pell did not respond to reporters' questions about Bishop Fisher's remarks.
Bishop Fisher's comments came after ABC's Lateline last night reported on Anthony Foster, whose daughters were raped by Melbourne priest Kevin O'Donnell when they were in primary school.
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Mr Foster alleged Cardinal Pell stalled the family's compensation claim against the Catholic Church when he was archbishop of Melbourne.
Asked about the broadcast, Bishop Fisher told this morning's World Youth Day press conference: "The cardinal and I were otherwise occupied last night enjoying the youth festival so we didn't see the Lateline story.
"All I've seen is the reports in the newspapers today.
'Old wounds'
"Happily, I think most of Australia was enjoying [and] delighting in the beauty and goodness of these young people and the hope for us doing these sorts of things better in the future, as we saw last night, rather than dwelling crankily, as a few people are doing, on old wounds."
He said Cardinal Pell had led the church in trying to put in place better processes to deal with sexual abuse claims.
"I am convinced that he has done all he can and will continue to receive, as I hear today that was suggested on Lateline, some ways that we might improve processes for the future.
"We are happy to hear any constructive advice on how we can do this better in the future. In the meantime to do all we can to prevent this happening again and to bring healing and justice to the victims of these terrible cases."
He could not say if Cardinal Pell would meet Mr Foster, but said Cardinal Pell had a long history of meeting victims of clerical sexual abuse.
Open to meeting
"He is very open to meeting victims. And if that can be constructive, if there can be a genuine conversation, I suspect again he is a generous and compassionate man and he will want to do what he can to heal these victims as any others."
Cardinal Pell, the leader of the Catholic Church in Australia, said he was "very saddened'' and described the story as "one of the worst things that can happen for a young woman".
He said although the events happened before his time as archbishop of Melbourne, he was involved in dealing with it.
Apologised
"I apologised to Emma in 1998," he told reporters in Sydney today before making an address at a World Youth Day event.
"I met with her parents. We offered them some financial help. We also offered them counselling.
"Emma availed herself of that counselling for 10 years and we contributed substantially towards those counselling costs.''
Dr Pell would not say whether he would meet with Mr Foster.
"My apology still stands," he said. "I repeat it. It has never been withdrawn. It has been a tragic case in every sense of the word and I repeat my apologies."
But Dr Pell added that he took no part in the civil case then launched by the Fosters.
"I left Melbourne in 2001," he said. "In 2002, as is their right, [the Fosters]initiated a civil action. I was not named as a partner in that civil action; nor named as a defendant. I took no part in that civil case."
smh.com.au, with AAP