Former altar boy sues church over rapes by priest

This story seems to have it all: extreme abuse on multiple occasions, altar boy, priest, alleged victim too scared to tell, alleged perpetrator issuing death threats, alleged perpetrator now dead, Catholic church to be sued. Perhaps I shouldn't be so cynical but can't help but wonder if this is a story inspired by other stories of abuse perpetrated by members of the clergy and pushed to the extreme in order to maximise a compensation payout.

Yes I would say 95% of all claims against priests and vicars are false; either exaggerated or totally invented.

Jo wrote:
Former altar boy sues church over rapes by priest

This story seems to have it all: extreme abuse on multiple occasions, altar boy, priest, alleged victim too scared to tell, alleged perpetrator issuing death threats, alleged perpetrator now dead, Catholic church to be sued. Perhaps I shouldn't be so cynical but can't help but wonder if this is a story inspired by other stories of abuse perpetrated by members of the clergy and pushed to the extreme in order to maximise a compensation payout.

Once you start paying compensation the truth can only get distorted.

It is a great shame because if we cant tell which claims are true and which are fiction, it makes it more difficult to work out what went wrong and how to prevent it happening again.

similar case as outlined by yet another Conservative Gerard Henderson who runs a
think tank" who Hedda as a ( Champagne - not bloody Moët though ) Socialist ends up agreeing with so many times..

ABC CORRECTS UNPROFESSIONAL FRAN KELLY INTERVIEW ABOUT TWO DECEASED CATHOLIC PRIESTS ON ITS WEBPAGE – BUT DODGES ON-AIR CORRECTION

'Issue 425 (28 September 2018) carried a MWD Exclusive titled “Dead Catholic Priests – An Easy Target for Accusers”. It referred to the Radio National Breakfast program of 4 September 2018 in which presenter Fran Kelly gave a soft interview to Tjanara Goreng Goreng. She alleged in her book (written by Julie Szego) A Long Way from No Go: A Memoir (Wild Dingo Press, 2018) that, when a young girl, she had been sexually abused by two Catholic priests. Namely, the late Fr Grove Johnson (1923-2018) and the late Fr Mick Hayes (1926-2011). In her introduction to the interview on RN Breakfast, Fran Kelly stated for a fact that Ms Goreng Goreng was “abused” when a “small girl” in Longreach in the 1960s by both Fr Johnson and Fr Hayes. Ms Goreng Goreng alleged that the assaults had taken place with the acquiescence of her late father.

Fran Kelly also stated for a fact that Fr Grove Johnson was dead by the time the Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse had been created, the suggestion being that there was no opportunity to establish the truth of Ms Goreng Goreng’s claims. In fact, Fr Johnson was very much alive and had retained a lawyer to clear his name when Ms Goreng Goreng had first made her complaint to the Queensland Police in 2015.

Tjanara Goreng Goreng’s book was previewed by some News Corp newspapers in Queensland – including the Rockhampton Morning Post, the Gladstone Observer and the Courier Mail – in late August 2018. Fr Frank Brennan wrote to News Corp advising that Fr Hayes died before the allegations were made – but that Fr Johnson told Queensland Police, through his lawyer, that he had never been to Longreach. Queensland Police found no evidence to support the allegation and closed the investigation. Consequently, News Corp placed an Editor’s Note at the end of the story on its online editions in late September 2018 with respect to Fr Johnson."

(Unlike the general Govt Compo ..the Catholic Church has been paying huge sums to claimants..up to $200,000 a time.)
thesydneyinstitute.com.au/blog/issue-434/