AFTER six years of fighting for a Royal Commission into the Catholic Church’s handling of child sexual abuse, three Healesville activists say they feel validated and hopeful.
Pam Krstic, and parents of two boys abused by priests in charge of St Brigid’s Catholic Parish quietly celebrated the announcement last week by Prime Minister Julia Gillard that a wide-reaching Royal Commission would be set up to investigate institutional child abuse.
All three were parishioners at St Brigid’s Catholic Parish and Ms Krstic was a teacher at the parish school at the time convicted paedophile priests Father David Daniel and Father Paul Pavlou were in charge of the parish – Daniel from 1990 to 1994 and Pavlou from 2005 to 2007.
Both convictions resulted from independent police action taken by abused victims outside of the church’s own investigations.
Ms Krstic who now works with the advocacy organisation In Good Faith, gave evidence at the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry Into The Handling of Child Abuse By Religious and Other Organisations last week.
Both Healesville parents have made submissions to the inquiry with one due to give evidence this week and the other waiting on an appearance date.
Ms Krstic credits the inquiry, where evidence is given under parliamentary privilege, as being a major catalyst for the Royal Commission.
While her brief as one of several witnesses from In Good Faith was to speak of what they believed needed to be done in the future to protect children, she said information given by Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Graham Ashton, in particular about the Catholic Church, was so damning as to be no longer ignored.
He spoke of the historical practices of the church which he said were obstructive and dismissive but went on to state that since 1996 when the Archbishop Pell bought in the Melbourne Response and Towards Healing arrangements to deal with sexual abuse allegations, the Catholic Church had upheld around 620 cases of criminal child abuse, none of which they reported to police.
Ms Krstic said all three police witnesses had called for a Royal Commission and mandatory reporting by religious personnel.
The six-year journey for Ms Krstic and for the victims’ families has been an ordeal marked by the pain of the initial abuse and ongoing abuse by the hierarchy of the Church and the system set up to deal with abuse allegations.
‘Lisa’ (not her real name) whose son was abused by Pavlou says she is determined to tell her story to the Victorian Inquiry and claims it reveals the ongoing cover-up of criminal clergy abuse that is still being denied by the Catholic Church.
“Pell (now Cardinal) has always stated that from 1998 processes are in place but my case shows that has not been the case at all,” she said.
“If we had not gone to the police, and had he (Pavlou) not been put on the sexual offenders’ registry, he would have gone into a church retirement home and come out in a year and been put into another community,” she said.
While Premier Ted Baillieu has said he will wait to see what the terms of reference are for the Royal Commission, all three Healesville advocates believe that the Victorian inquiry needs to go through to its conclusion.
On the Royal Commission, Ms Krstic said while there was talk of it going on for years, it was vital that it be done properly.
“If it is to look at all the institutions they are talking about it’s better for it be go on for the time that needs to be done properly than to be rushed,” she said.
“But it is also critical that it is well resourced to provide support for victims and their families.”
