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The Press
June 19, 2002
Getting rid of secret agreements
by Matt Conway
A
secret deal between the Catholic Church and a
A
Ken Clearwater, who manages the Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse Trust, said the
Church's agreement, with strict confidentiality clauses, was aimed at
protecting its own interests.
"They make out in all their documents that they're there to help the victim,
but I think, in reality, the first thing that they've looked after is the
safety of the Church and the good name of the Church," he said.
"I would like to know how many others have basically been given that hush
money and how it has affected them."
The effect of the secret deal in the case of this victim, known as Patrick, was
to stifle him and his healing, said Mr Clearwater. He dropped out of group
therapy for fear of breaching his confidentiality clause.
"Patrick's petrified, absolutely petrified," said Mr Clearwater.
Clinical psychologist Martin Visser said
confidentiality clauses imprisoned victims in codes of silence and made healing
difficult.
"It is almost silencing money. You could argue that it is another form of
abuse, because now they have to be silent, not only about the abuse, but the
(agreement)."
When abuse victims began disclosing their experiences they often needed to talk
about them a lot, he said. "People become quite obsessed with talking
about it and that is therapeutic in a sense."
Brother Peter Burke, the Australasian head of the St John of God Order, said he
was absolutely horrified about the secret deal. His order has since instructed
its lawyers on both sides of the Tasman to remove confidentiality clauses from
future agreements.
"It is not something that is currently in vogue today. My information is
that when this particular situation arose, the legal advice was to do it that
way and that is what the order did," he said.
The order has also taken a bold step and opened its doors to claims against
another St John of God brother, Bernard Kevin McGrath, jailed in 1993 for
indecencies against six boys in his care.
"We have offered anyone that has any allegation to come forward and I'm
happy to meet with them or their families," said Brother Peter.
He confirmed yesterday that compensation has been paid to victims of McGrath
and confidentiality clauses could well have applied here too.
In Patrick's case, allegations of abuse were investigated by the Catholic Church's
Professional standards committee member Barbara Matthews,
said the group was strictly an investigative body, assessing the credibility of
allegations.
It had no influence over the eventual outcome of investigations and may not
even know what they were. The furthest the committee would go in terms of
recompense is recommending additional counselling for the victim.
Mrs Matthews, who represents the laity, said every Catholic bishop and order
had a team of advisers, including lawyers, to assist their decision-making on
outcomes.
"That is simply because those issues were sensitive. They are sensitive to
the victim as much as they are to the order," he said.
Mr Robinson said there were a host of reasons behind confidentiality clauses,
including commercial sensitivity.
"You can imagine if an amount is disclosed in respect of one, it sets a
trend ... " he said.
Agreements were not usually signed until the victim had had separate advice and
counselling.
"He (Patrick) may have changed his mind on it and that's fine. It is not
uncommon to have those provisions simply for the protection of both
parties," said Mr Robinson.
His firm has now received instructions from the St John of God Order to leave
confidentiality clauses out of future agreements.
"From the Church's point of view, the Church does not want to be seen to
be hiding behind confidentiality clauses. They are quite happy that those
provisions don't appear," Mr Robinson said.
NZ Catholic Communications director Lyndsay Freer
said news of the secret deal was "disturbing" in light of a Catholic
protocol approved by bishops in 1998 to handle sex abuse openly and honestly.
St John of God's brothers were among the congregations which adopted the
protocol, A Path To Healing.
"In any inquiry the quest for the truth will be paramount and the truth
when found will not be hidden," it says.