Church inaction
Clergy abuse victims get criticised for going to court, but what else are they to do? In this case, the church made an internal investigation of child sex offences, but failed to refer the matter to police, thereby hiding a serious crime. In another case, the diocese (Catholic), in spite of appearing to support the victim’s claim, says “it’s not our policy to pay compensation”. But the Towards Healing program for compensating Catholic victims is a national one, and individual dioceses should be working on victims’ behalfs to ensure they get some redress through the program.
But when churches continue to hide crimes, and refuse justice and redress to victims, those victims have no other option but to seek justice in civil or criminal courts. And people wonder why we lose faith in the church!