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The Press
July 3, 2002
Church inundated with abuse calls
by Yvonne Martin
The
Catholic Church is considering how to deal with sex-abuse complaints pouring in
against members of its religious orders.
Two toll-free hotlines set up by the St John of God Order and the Society of
Mary (Marists) to help people report abuse claims have been inundated with
calls.
The St John of God Order has logged 37 inquiries since last Friday. The Society
of Mary's vice- provincial, Father Tim Duckworth, said about 50 calls had been
received by his order since Sunday.
Several calls related to a former Marist priest Alan Woodcock, who has been
accused of abusing teenage boys at St Patrick's College in Silverstream in the
1980s, before being removed from the school. They were referred to police, who
are reconsidering whether to extradite Mr Woodcock from
The Catholic Communications office also took four calls on Monday, prompted by
publicity over the weekend. Two were referred to the hotlines.
Catholic Communications director Lyndsay Freer said a central point of contact
may be needed to streamline the complaints process.
"If people want to come forward they have to be given the chance to tell
their story and it has to be investigated, as best it can be,
retrospectively."
She agreed the Catholic protocol committees, set up to investigate abuse
complaints, may be swamped by the wave of new allegations.
"We have to put other things in place, get more people, expand the
protocol committees membership or whatever."
The Australasian head of the St John of God Order, Brother Peter Burke, was scheduled
to visit
The order's spokesman said Brother Burke was fielding as many calls as possible
from complainants around
Father Duckworth said the 50 calls received by the Society of Mary included
queries and feedback, not just complaints.
Detective Inspector Peter Read said the police had received several inquiries,
but no official complaints had been laid.
The Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse Trust has organised a meeting, at 10am on
Friday at the Community House,
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