This ruling overturns a 2023 Victorian court decision that held the church responsible for the abuse of a five-year-old by assistant priest Father Bryan Coffey.

The diocese and its current bishop, Paul Bird, were sued by a man who said he was sexually assaulted by Coffey at his parents' home in Port Fairy in 1971 when he was five years old.

Coffey, who is now dead, received a three-year suspended sentence in 1999 after being convicted of charges including indecent assaults on males and females under 16.

The High Court's decision centres on the principle that vicarious liability applies strictly to formal employer-employee relationships.

Justice Jack Forrest who presided over the original case, had previously determined that the Diocese of Ballarat was liable due to Coffey's role as a "servant of the diocese" which provided him with authority - and the access to abuse children.

However, the High Court argued that extending vicarious liability beyond direct employment creates legal uncertainty and indeterminacy.

Catastrophic blow to abuse victims

Ken Cush and Associates, representing the victim known as DP, said their client was "disappointed that the compensation for the sexual abuse of Coffey has been taken away by the law in Australia being unable to find the Bishop vicariously liable".

Maurice Blackburn's principal lawyer, John Rule, criticised the decision saying it allowed the church to evade responsibility.

"The church has known about its priests abusing children for centuries and did nothing to stop it" Rule said.

"Unfortunately, this decision means that in some cases the church will be able to again evade responsibility for the scourge of child abuse in its ranks."

Ross Koffel, executive chairman at Koffels Solicitors and Barristers, said the decision was a "catastrophic blow" to the victims of abuse by religious clergy and volunteers at other institutions.

He said the NSW government had already changed the law to hold organisations vicariously liable. But those laws were not retrospective he said, something that could be changed with a "simple amendment".

Sources

Australian Associated Press

ABC News

The Guardian

CathNews New Zealand

Bychok, 44, who leads the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Australia, was appointed only four years after arriving in the country.

His elevation has surprised many within the Church, especially those who expected more senior figures such as Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney or Melbourne's Archbishop Peter Comensoli to receive the title.

Some conservative figures are reportedly upset by the decision, with Archbishop Fisher expected to be especially displeased.

A senior source within the Church described Fisher as likely "choking on his Talisker" upon hearing the news.

Critics have noted the pope's continued tendency to pass over right-wing appointees associated with the late Cardinal George Pell, a controversial figure in the Australian Church.

At the same time, progressives had hoped Vietnamese-Australian Bishop of Parramatta Vincent Long may have caught the pope's eye.

A difficult cross

Bychok's appointment has also been interpreted as recognising the growing multiculturalism within the Australian Church. Data from the Australian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office shows that nearly a quarter of the clergy in Australia are overseas-born.

The new cardinal-elect, who learned of his appointment through the news, said he was in shock. "For me, it's a great mystery. God works in mysterious ways, and the pope works in mysterious ways, under God!"

Bychok acknowledged the weight of his new role, particularly for the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Australia and worldwide. "To fulfil this will of God will be a huge challenge for me, and a really difficult cross" he said.

Cardinal-Elect Bychok paid tribute to his predecessor, Cardinal George Pell, who passed away early in 2023.

"Cardinal Pell, besides all his trials, was faithful to God. He proclaimed the Word of God until the end—he was a true apostle of Christian values. That's what I would like to carry into my ministry as cardinal" Cardinal-Elect Bychok said.

In a statement shortly after his appointment, he also honoured his predecessor cardinals of the Ukrainian Catholic Church.

"I will endeavour to follow the worthy example of my predecessor cardinals" the cardinal-elect said. He singled out 20th-century Cardinals Myroslav Lubachivsky, Lubomyr Husar and Josyf Slipyj.

Sources

Crickey

Catholic Weekly

According to the Australian Catholic Weekly, Auxiliary Bishop Richard Umbers of Sydney, who attended the congress as an international observer, said that the US gathering generated much interest in Australia.

"We are very interested in learning all the aspects of the journey to this national congress," Umbers said.

"We've been following this revival, and it has captured our imagination."

The bishop noted that the congress, which drew over 50,000 participants from all 50 states and 17 countries, demonstrated the power of Eucharistic devotion to unite and energise the faithful.

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That means Jesus's voice remains prominent in Australia, Coleridge says.

Data from the 2021 census has just been released by the Bureau of Statistics. It includes figures on religious affiliation which show Catholics now make up 20 per cent of the population. That's down from 22.6 per cent in 2016.

Nevertheless Catholics, at almost 5.1 million people, remain the largest religious group in Australia, followed by Anglicans at 10 per cent.

The combined Christian population is now 44 per cent. Those professing no religion comprise 39 per cent of those who answered the question on the census.

Coleridge says the decline in Catholic numbers is "no great surprise".

"It's been clear for some time that the Church is no longer the power in the land we once were.

"But we remain a large minority engaged far and wide in service of the community," including in education, social services, health and aged care - as well as parish life.

"Almost half the population still identify as Christian, which means that Jesus is very much part of the mix in the Australian soul.

"That means his will remain a key voice as we work together to shape the life of the nation into the future."

The Census data already released shows that the number of Australians born overseas continues to grow, which brings with it increased cultural and religious diversity.

Coleridge says many immigrants are Catholics, and "the Catholic community has been greatly enriched by people coming to Australia from elsewhere".

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference's National Centre for Pastoral Research will begin analysing the data for those who self-identified as Catholics in the census.

The research aims to help the Church better understand its people. It will be released, along with other key demographic data, later in the year.

Source

• Australian Catholic Bishops Conference

This one of the 'motions' distributed by the church's drafting committee and circulated among Council membership before the Plenary's second general assembly on July 4-9.

The motion labels the sincere efforts of many as "misguided".

"Much suffering has been inflicted by the misguided attempts of those who were ignorant of the cultural richness of these peoples," is says.

Among the other motions on mission, one commits the church in Australia to being "centred on Christ," and promoting hospitality, encounter, dialogue, and mercy.

It also calls for dialogue with those who experience marginalisation and for the proclamation of the Gospel through Catholic engagement in the public arena and contribution to the public debate on issues relating to marriage and sexuality.

Another motion calls for equality between men and women, and for the enhancement of the role of women in the church, including further conversation - both locally and with the Vatican - about the possibility of ordaining women into the diaconate, more public recognition for women, and if necessary, to "remunerate more appropriately" those women who are already leading and serving in the church.

The Plenary Council is also looking to approve the establishment of provisions for lay people to preach.

The draft motions will be to be considered for a vote, drawn from the discussion at previous gatherings of the Council's lay and clerical participants.

The Plenary Council has until 15 June to propose amendments to the motions described in the document. Its amendments and motions will be voted on during the Second Assembly.

The document also suggests ways to respond to crimes of a sexual nature perpetrated by church employees, clerics and laity.

It says the Church must apologise to survivors and their families; commit to responding with justice and compassion to those suffering; implement safeguarding measures and invite all members of the Church to ensure safe and respectful environments within the institution.

The council has embraced the "urgent need" to develop an "integral ecology of life" that requires what recent popes have dubbed an "ecological conversion".

Also among the proposed measures includes a call to more frequent use of a communal form of the sacrament of penance, despite strict canonical litations of its use.

If adopted by the Plenary Council, some of the proposals mean the Australian Catholic Church will need to ask the Vatican for dispensations from canon law governing the liturgical discipline of the universal Latin Church.

Source

• CruxNow
• Pillar

He made the call in a commentary on a plenary council preparatory document.

Archbishop Julian Porteous of Hobart (pictured) said Catholicism in Australia faces crises such as a loss of faith and declining religious practice. The plenary council working document shows "serious failures" that suggest a lack of confidence and "evangelical vigour".

Porteous commented, "I sense a church that has lost confidence in itself; a church that has lost confidence in its identity and mission."

The document's doctrinal contradictions and general tone, he said, can encourage Catholics to shrink from their "prophetic task" and become caught in a "spiritual paralysis".

"This is the time for the Church to rise up with new evangelical vigour. This is the time to turn all our attention to announcing a word of life and hope," Archbishop Porteous said.

"The sharp edge of the call to conversion and faith is lacking in the document. In the face of the rise of those who declare that they have no faith, it is necessary more than ever to issue the call to faith," said Porteous.

"The Church in Australia is in the midst of an existential crisis as it witnesses thousands abandoning participation in the sacramental life of the Church each year," he added.

"The Church is in serious decline, yet no real recognition of this reality is given in the document. Because the crisis of faith is not acknowledged, the document makes no effort to propose a way forward for the Church," he said.

Porteous wrote his comments in response to the working document "Towards the Second Assembly," produced as the Catholic Church in Australia is amid its Fifth Plenary Council.

For Porteous, Catholics need to take the path of "entering more deeply into the mystery of the Church to unleash the power of the life of grace".

He called for the Catholic Church to be prepared "to be a prophetic voice speaking truth with love within the culture, to challenge the prevailing ethos."

"Have we become afraid to speak out about what we believe?" he asked. "If we shrink from our prophetic task, we will become caught in a spiritual paralysis."

Sources

Catholic News Agency

The Catholic Weekly

Life Site News

The letter, sent ahead of the upcoming Fifth Plenary Council of the Church in the country, urges the bishops to remain committed to the Church's teaching. Ordaining women should therefore be rejected.

"Many submissions to the Plenary Council have made the laudable recommendation that women be more effectively integrated into the existing governing structures of the Church," says the letter signed by students and alumni associated with the Australian Catholic Students Association.

"However, it was with great sadness that we note many submissions have called for a change to the very constitution of the Church also willed by Christ," they added.

"We call on the Plenary Council and the Bishops of Australia to reject unambiguously all calls for the ordination of women."

Delayed by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Fifth Plenary Council is set for October next year. It will be followed in July 2022 by a second assembly.

While the students say they fully support the respect owed to the roles women play in the Church, they do not believe that these roles extend to ordination to the priesthood.

Instead, they have "wholehearted support for the integration of women into even more prominent roles in areas such as sacred theology, communications, evangelization and (insofar as lay people are able) governance."

"This letter expresses our longing to share Christ with others unashamed, with clarity and with the help of our leaders," ACSA Vice President Claudia Tohi says.

"Truth is not determined by the mood of the times, nor is it a mere abstract concept. Truth is a person, the Son of God who gave up his life for the salvation of all humankind."

The Australian Catholic students told the bishops the emphasis on the lay vocation would be "far more encouraging of women than any tokenistic program or power-wrangling we have seen in some of the Plenary submissions."

They were also critical of certain assumptions about the path young people wish to see the Church take in the coming years.

"Young people desire an authentic relationship with Christ; this will not be facilitated by a committee," they wrote.

"We believe true reform of the Church will not come from merely shifting resources from one committee to another, but in the rediscovery of, conviction about, and love for the Catholic faith by every Catholic."

Advocating for "the dilution of truths of the faith," is likely to "alienate young people and society at large."

"Why should anyone take the doctrine and mysteries of Christ and His Church seriously if her members do not," they asked.

"We call on the Plenary Council to recommit the Church in Australia to the timeless truths of the Gospel as proclaimed by the Church for twenty centuries."

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• Image: australiancatholicstudents.org