Catholic Church in Australia Paid $43,000,000 in Hush Money; Tone-Deaf Church Lawyer Quotes Scripture at Hearing
Some of the recipients now say they felt pressured into accepting the deal. One abuse victim, teacher Joan Isaacs, explained that
… she had felt silenced for the past 12 years after reluctantly signing a confidentiality agreement through the church’s controversial Towards Healing process for a $30,000 settlement which, after she paid legal fees, left her with enough to buy $5000 worth of Coles-Myer shares [Coles-Myer was a chain of department stores] and a sewing machine. …
Her voice wavering, Mrs Isaacs told the Royal Commission into Institutionalised Responses to Child Sex Abuse in Sydney how one member of the [children’s] group had Father Frank Derriman’s baby while the priest told them that, if they loved God, it was OK to have sex with him because he was God’s representative.
Also, Father Derriman pressured the children by claiming that he was terminally ill and longed to have sex before he died.
He had other tricks up his godly sleeve, too. Isaacs testified that Derriman
…
Derriman is no longer a priest, but don’t rejoice just yet:
He is now married and working as a social worker in Victoria.