This article comes from the Australian Daily Telegraph.
I think we will see more and more countries considering laws that will hold the Catholic church legally accountable for sexual abuse. As it currently stands, the church and its priests are often shielded behind religious freedom and laws specifically designed to protect ecclesiastical assets.
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Justice for Sex Abuse Victims
By Janet Fife-Yeomans
RADICAL laws that would deliver justice to thousands of victims of sex abuse at the hands of Catholic priests and teachers are being considered by the Keneally Government.
The Catholic Church would no longer be able to hide behind a 2007 court ruling that they cannot be sued because they only own the church property and do not employ the clergy or teachers.
Attorney-General John Hatzistergos is also considering a temporary moratorium for child sex abuse victims from the state's brutal statute of limitations, which blocks claims more than three years old.
Victims currently face long and expensive legal fights which often fail to have that statute waived.
The influential Australian Lawyers Alliance has called on the Government to repeal the Roman Catholic Trust Property Act of 1936 which the courts have ruled protects the church in most cases from claims of negligence involving paedophile priests.
A spokesperson for Mr Hatzistergos said the Attorney-General was looking at that request.
In 2007, the Court of Appeal found in a test case brought by former altar boy John Ellis, now a solicitor, that he had no one to sue over sexual assaults by the late Father Duggan at Bass Hill.
The court ruled that under the 1936 Act, the trustees of the church, who control the billions of dollars of church real estate including retirement homes and charities, are only liable for property matters and cannot be held liable for negligence of their priests in churches or teachers in Roman Catholic parochial schools.
The High Court refused Mr Ellis leave to appeal.
Australian Lawyers Alliance NSW spokesman Dr Andrew Morrison SC said it was outrageous a ch
