The Royal Commission will hold a public hearing in Sydney commencing Monday 9 December 2013.
This hearing will adjourn on 20 December 2013 and resume on 22 January 2014. The public hearing will look into the Towards Healing process adopted by the Catholic Church in responding to allegations of child sexual abuse.
Royal Commission CEO Janette Dines explained that this hearing will be the first of a number of public hearings that will examine the application of Towards Healing in responding to victims and allegations of child sexual abuse against personnel of the Catholic Church.
“This first public hearing into Towards Healing will focus on the experiences of four people who participated in the process,” she said.
“These people are Queensland residents whose claim of child sexual abuse was dealt with through the Towards Healing process. The accused at the time of the abuse were priests and brothers of the Archdiocese of Brisbane, Diocese of Lismore and the Marist Brothers.
“As the Commission continues, we will hold more public hearings into peoples’ experience with Towards Healing and its application in different parts of Australia,” Ms Dines said.
