This is changing with Pope Francis. According to the Archbishop of Melbourne, Peter Comensoli, who was in Rome for the Australian Bishops' "Ad Limina" gathering this week, the Roman Curia is listening to rather than lecturing the bishops toiling in the trenches.

"There's none of this ‘we're the schoolmaster, and you are the pupil', all that seems to have gone," the energetic 55-year-old archbishop told me when we sat down for an interview in between his hectic schedule of meetings in the Vatican.

Every five years bishops from a particular region are required to undertake an "ad limina apostolorum" visit as a group to the "tombs of the apostles", where they meet the pope, report on the state of their dioceses and meet leaders of Vatican dicasteries.

The last Australian bishops' ad limina was eight years ago, with the delay caused by a backlog caused by the growth in the church and number of bishops worldwide.

"I was here at the last ad limina, back in 2011, and all the meetings with the dicasteries on those occasions were mainly a presentation of the dicastery, of what they were doing.

"That's turned around completely. So far, it's ‘what do you want to share with us?' ‘how can we help'?"

His remarks echo those of the Archbishop of Liverpool, Malcolm McMahon who also detected a different approach under the Francis curia during his visit last September, and an end to some of the "tension" that existed before between Rome and the English bishops.

This shift, Archbishop Comensoli explains, is evidence that reform of mentality is taking root in the Roman Curia, which Pope Francis sees as just as significant as re-organising structures.

A new constitution for the Roman Curia, "Praedicate Evangelium", ("Proclaim the Gospel"), which could come this September, is going to emphasise the importance of the Curia serving the local churches. Continue reading

• Image: The Tablet

The stabbing happened at the 11am mass at St Matthew's church in the Melbourne suburb of Fawkner North.

It is believed the 72-year old offender accused Fr Tomy Kalathoor Mathew of being Hindu or Muslim and stabbed him in the neck.

The offender has been arrested. Read more

An image of the nuns was posted on Instagram last week and the Sex Party released it and another photograph to the media on Friday.

Sex Party leader Fiona Patten said the pair of sisters seemed "hell-bent" on tearing down the words "tax the church" from a pole in Collingwood.

"Our policy to tax the Church is fair and reasonable, especially where it applies to the Church's profit-making businesses," Ms Patten said on Friday.

"If the nuns would like to visit me and confess, that will be an end to it."

The Sex Party said the sisters also tore a poster calling for legalised medical marijuana.

The Catholic archdiocese of Melbourne's media and communications director, Shane Healy, said interfering with election posters could not be condoned.

"[But] no one should be at all surprised that sisters of the Missionaries of Charity, established by Mother Teresa of Calcutta to feed and support the poorest of the poor, would be taking offence at the policies of the Sex Party," he said.

Sex Party Senate candidate Meredith Doig said the whole act was "pathetic".

"It's a bit of a flashback to the past of some sort of sanctimonious 19th century era women's temporary union," Dr Doig said.

"Honestly, in this day and age, you got to think about what's going through their minds and how engaged they are with society."

During the New South Wales state elections last year, Sex Party signs were removed from a church that was being used as a polling booth.

This was reportedly because church workers believed they were the work of the devil.

Sources

• The Guardian
• SBS
• Stuff.co.nz
• Image: SBS

The campaign started after media coverage of grade 1 pupil Asha Cariss's objections over not being allowed to wear pants to school.

The school's previous uniform policy was that girls wear a tunic and tights or socks.

Simone Cariss, Asha's mother, had said the policy was impractical for a young girl who wanted to run around and play sports at lunchtime.

Ms Cariss started a petition calling for gender equality in school uniforms.

This sparked considerable media interest and the school responded.

"The principal called me [on Monday morning] and said they'd reconsidered their position and that Asha can wear pants if she likes, and they will set up a school uniform committee to work how we roll out pants being available for girls in the school," Ms Cariss said.

Ms Cariss said she was fighting for equal opportunity in schools.

"I'm prepared to fight really hard for our young girls, our most impressionable girls, that they don't have to be forced to wear dresses in this day and age. It's 2016."

Ms Cariss said some critics questioned why she did not remove her daughter from the school and send her to one with a more flexible stance.

The mother said she didn't know about the uniform policy when she enrolled her daughter.

Ms Cariss asked Asha if she would like to leave the school, but the girl said she loved the school in every other way.

"I'm just really pleased the school has come around, and my daughter is able to stay there and be much happier and not feel like she's not equal to half of her peers," Ms Cariss said.

Speaking before the school's change in uniform policy, Catholic Education Melbourne executive director Stephen Elder said decisions around uniform were dealt with at an individual school level, where school leaders take local concerns and contexts into account.

Sources

• ABC
• The Age
• Image: ABC

The cardinal, currently based at the Vatican, had been scheduled to appear before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses into Child Sexual Abuse in Melbourne on December 16.

But Cardinal Pell's cardiologist has told him that due to a pre-existing heart condition, it is not safe for the 74-year-old to make long haul flights.

The cardinal is prefect of the Vatican's Secretariat for the Economy.

On Friday, permission was sought from the royal commission to Cardinal Pell to testify by video link, as he has done previously.

But the chairman of the commission, Justice Peter McClellan, refused the application.

Cardinal Pell's appearance - his third before the royal commission - has been re-scheduled for February, during another round of hearings in Ballarat.

Justice McClellan cited the complexities of the matters on which the cardinal would testify and the technical difficulties that happened the last time a video link was used.

Justice McCLellan said he hopes that the cardinal's health will have improved by February.

But if not it may "mean further delaying his evidence to a date when he can travel safely to Australia", the judge said,

The cardinal's lawyer said his client has "deeply regrets" about having to cancel the journey.

Tickets had been booked for the travel and the cardinal had been due to arrive in Australia on Sunday.

Cardinal Pell's office stated: "Cardinal Pell realises there may be some who will question the decision to remain in Rome".

But it added that the cardinal had consistently expressed his intention to do everything possible to assist the inquiry.

"However, it would be unwise for him not to heed medical advice," the statement added.

Cardinal Pell has also cancelled a speaking event in Florida in the US in January.

Australian abuse victim David Ridsdale, who travelled from London to Melbourne for the hearing, reacted to the Pell news by saying: "I'm not disappointed, I'm furious."

"I would implore Cardinal Pell to come and face the music like all of us men have had to do for all these years."

Cardinal Pell has repeatedly denied knowledge of attempts to cover up wrongdoing.

Sources

• The Tablet
• Reuters
• The Age
• Eureka Street
• The Guardian
• Image: IB Times

On Monday, during hearings in Melbourne, Australia's Royal Commission on Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard from the victim about the 1968 incident.

In the confessional, "BTU" told Fr Wilfred Baker that Fr Ronald Pickering was sexually abusing him.

Fr Baker spoke to the 13-year-old after Confession had finished.

Victim "BTU" said: "The conversation was not about the abuse that I disclosed to him; instead what Fr Baker wanted to know was where I lived . . . I thought this was odd."

It got back to Fr Pickering.

"By mentioning it to Fr Pickering, Fr Baker clearly had no hesitation in breaking the seal of my confession to him and also Fr Pickering appeared to be agitated and was clearly concerned about this," the victim said.

BTU said the abuse confused him as a child.

"There were mixed messages because, on the one hand, you were taught how holy priests were and they could do no wrong.

"But on the other hand, what Fr Pickering was doing to me was the opposite of the Church's teachings."

A victim of Fr Baker's, BTO, was aged 12 when the two years of abuse started in 1976, the royal commission heard.

BTO told his mother and an assistant priest about the abuse in 1978.

He heard that someone met then-Melbourne Archbishop Frank Little, who seemed "almost equal to God".

Fr Baker was moved out of the Gladstone Park parish.

Fr Baker was convicted in 1999 of abusing BTO and seven other boys between 1960 and 1979.

BTO received A$35,000 in compensation from the archdiocese's Melbourne Response scheme.

But he still struggles with the effects of the abuse.

"I struggle to accept that I was preyed upon as a child and that it wasn't my fault," he said.

Sources

• AAP
• Image: Catholic League

Cardinal Pell had been due to give evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse at the second stage of the Ballarat hearings in November.

However, last week the commission said the hearings would be held in Melbourne's county court, citing logistical issues and a high level of public interest.

Abuse survivor Stephen Woods said he and many Ballarat victims are deeply upset by the decision.

They feel Cardinal Pell should front up in their community - his home town - and should apologise for the wrongdoing, including Church cover-ups.

Mr Woods said he believed the hearings had been moved because of concerns for Cardinal Pell's safety.

But Victorian police said the decision was entirely made by the royal commission and police advice was neither sought nor given.

The Ballarat and District Survivors Group said it was not consulted on the decision and called for the hearings to be held in their city.

Spokesman Andrew Collins said it was an important part of the community's healing process.

"The next step is to try and get the hearings moved to Ballarat or at least the bulk of the hearings here, otherwise it just won't have the same impact," he said.

At hearings in May in Ballarat, an allegation of attempted bribery was made against Cardinal Pell.

It was also alleged that he played a role in the moving of a paedophile priest from parish to parish.

Cardinal Pell later confirmed to the royal commission he would fly from Italy to Australia to attend the November Ballarat hearings.

The cardinal, who is prefect of the Vatican's secretariat for the economy, said he was horrified by the allegations against him.

In May, he denied these allegations and said he is committed to completely co-operate with the royal commission.

Cardinal Pell served as a young priest in Ballarat, before he was a made an auxiliary bishop of Melbourne in 1987.

Sources

• Guardian Australia
• ABC
• SkyNews
• Catholic Hierarchy
• Image: The Guardian

At each corner of the A$90 million development, four steel boxes containing gospels have been lowered into the ground.

In the centre, a time capsule was buried.

It contained the Bible, a wooden cross, money, the newspaper of the day and a declaration of the building's purpose and names of the clergy present.

"This is a tradition going back to the Scriptures," the head of the diocese of Melbourne, Bishop Suriel, said.

"We wanted to put those foundations there so that if a long time from now this building is ever knocked down people will know its significance, they will know it was a Coptic site."

The 44-storey Eporo Tower is a collaboration between the Coptic Orthodox Church and Singaporean investment company Ho Bee.

It is due to be completed at the end of next year.

The lower levels of the tower will include a place of worship for the church's 20,000 Victorian followers, a hall, classrooms and campus for its theological college.

The building's 307 one and two-bedroom apartments have been sold.

Fr Mark Attalla, who scoured the city for a suitable site, said the development was aimed at building a community around the parish.

"We wanted to have a church within a community; the bottom floor being commercial, the next three and a half floors spiritual and the rest residential," he said.

Bishop Suriel said he believed other churches would be watching the mixed-use development model with interest.

The blade-like high-rise will have classic finishes including six five-metre high stained-glass windows facing the street and a Coptic cross motif adorning the cladding of the tower.

The city block where the development is being built was once home to a gay sauna for more than three decades.

Sources

• Sydney Morning Herald
• Image: Twitter

There are now 59 men in training at Corpus Christi, the highest number since the 1970s.

They come from at least nine Australian archdioceses and dioceses.

In 1999, the number at Corpus Christi was 28.

Twenty years ago, the number was about 20.

Current rector Fr Brendan Lane at that time saw an institution in decline, Fairfax reported.

"I thought with attitudes as they were, we're finished," said Fr Lane, then a parish priest.

Now there are not enough rooms at Corpus Christi to house the seminarians and an appeal has been launched to fund an extension.

"This turnaround has been a real surprise I think to us, especially with the bad publicity," Fr Lane said.

"But in fact the more bad publicity we've had, the more students we get.

"I think it probably works in a reverse way. It says that we're trying to do something about the problems we've got."

"Why are these guys coming in now?" Fr Lane asked.

"I think people are going to need hope."

Third year seminarian Nathan Rawlins offered a simple explanation as to why the seminary is full.

"Now people are realising how great a gift it is to be a Catholic."

The seminarians reflect the ethnic mix of Australia today, and by extension, the Catholic congregations.

They are drawn from 11 countries of origin: Australian, India, Croatia, the Philippines, Vietnam, New Zealand, Nigeria, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Poland and Indonesia.

The Fairfax article explored the possibility that the Pope Francis effect had boosted seminary numbers.

The seminarians now in training would have been influenced by John Paul II and Benedict, it noted.

As Daryl Montecillo, who will be ordained this year, put it: "We trust in God regardless of whoever God gives us as pope. But we thank God for Pope Francis, that's for sure."

Sources

• Sydney Morning Herald
• Image: Sydney Morning Herald

Fire destroyed the 123-year-old St James Church in Brighton in late March.

And fires at St Mary's Church in Dandenong caused A$250,000 worth of damage.

A separate blaze started near a door at St Mary's in St Kilda East caused little damage.

Bishop Peter Elliott said the Catholic archdiocese would increase security at local churches.

Bishop Elliott suggested an arsonist with a "very disturbed mind" was responsible for the fires, but doubted the instigator was a victim of sexual abuse.

A spokesperson for a victims' support group said it was possible an arsonist was simply targeting churches generally, rather than those linked to abuse.

Continue reading

The priest made the comments in an end-of-term service for a Catholic primary school.

He reportedly said that if Irish woman Jill Meagher had been more "faith-filled" she would have been at home instead of out in the early hours of the morning when she was raped and killed.

The vicar-general of the archdiocese of Melbourne, went on radio to apologise.

"I've spoken with the priest; he acknowledges that the homily wasn't appropriate and apologises for the offence and upset it has caused," Msgr Greg Bennett said.

Continue reading

In an opinion piece in the Australian newspaper, Monday, Archbishop Fisher seemed to distance himself from the Council's view that "Obligatory celibacy may also have contributed to abuse in some circumstances".

The Truth Justice and Healing Council made the link in its report, released on Friday 12.

It is the first time the Church has opened the door to such a link.

Calling sexual abuse at the hands of celibate priests "sickening" and "shameful", Archbishop Fisher went on to say "we must avoid glib explanations or simplistic solutions".

"No one is served, least of all the survivors, by creating mythologies about child abuse.

"Some question whether this discipline should continue to be required of all priests. That conversation continues", he wrote.

Adding, "But linking celibacy and pedophilia does justice to neither and may be a dangerous distraction."

Fisher pointed to Australian government statistics showing 5,800 substantiated reports of child sexual abuse in 2011-12 alone.

By contrast, he says the royal commission reports it had heard of 595 cases of clergy abuse over a much longer period, including abuse committed by married clergy from other denominations.

Fisher not being afraid of a battle

In 2008, the then Bishop Fisher was severely criticised for comments he made relating to Fr Kevin O'Donnell, a Catholic priest in Melbourne, who was accused of raping Emma and Katie Foster.

During a news conference, Fisher said a few people were "dwelling crankily ... on old wounds."

Fisher's comments were delivered in support of the then Archbishop of Melbourne, George Pell and his handling of the accusations against O'Donnell.

In 2008, the now Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney, George Pell defended his handling of the case.

"I apologised to Emma in 1998. I met with her parents," he said.

"Now, we offered them some financial help. We also offered them counselling for Emma.

"Emma availed herself of that counselling for 10 years and we contributed substantially towards those counselling costs.

"It's a tragic case in every sense of the word and I repeat my apologies."

Emma Foster went on to suffer from anorexia and drug abuse before committing suicide in 2008, while the younger sister turned to alcohol, and now needs 24-hour care after being hit by a car.

Sources

• The Australian is paywalled. Visit CathNews Opinions.
• NCR
• ABC
• Whispers in the Loggia
• Image: Whispers in the Loggia

St James Catholic Primary School in Brighton, east of Melbourne, included an article titled "15 Ways to Protect Your Marriage" in its August 7 school newsletter.

The article, submitted by parish priest Fr Gerard Johnson, contained tips for wives to keep an eye on her husband's co-workers and being "careful" on a girls night out.

It also suggested that couples should have complete access to each other's social media accounts and text messages.

A mother, only identified as Rachel, is seeking an apology from the school after the eldest of her two daughters came home and asked if she could no longer have male friends as suggested by the full-page newsletter article.

"Parents already feel let down by the Catholic Church by its inability to keep up with the times, but are now concerned that in 2014 our children are being educated in this sexist and misogynistic environment," she said.

The article originally appeared on iMOM Family First and says porn is the "cancer that's ruining the sex lives of countless married couples" and suggests married women should not talk about sex with members of the opposite sex.

Another parent, who remained anonymous, called the newsletter article "outdated claptrap".

"It has caused an uproar in our community," she said.

The article's first paragraph states: "Even when things are good in your relationship with your husband, it's wise to keep your eyes open, communicate well and put some ‘guard rails' in place to keep things on track and safe."

"Since women are often the more communicative half of a marriage, it may fall on you to initiate discussions and see that important things are addressed . . . ," the introduction continued.

Fr Johnson said he was disappointed at the response, but added that he had received far more positive feedback than negative.

He rejected claims the article was sexist or derogatory towards women, saying that the points raised refer generally to the total marriage relationship.

St James's principal said the school had no control over the portion of the newsletter concerned, over which the parish priest had the final say.

Sources

• 15 Ways to Protect Your Marriage
• Daily Mail
• Herald Sun
• Image: More Than

The Australian news site The Age reported that the excommunication document - written in Latin - was dated May 31.

Reynolds, who resigned as a parish priest in 2011 and last year founded Inclusive Catholics, said he had expected to be laicised (defrocked), but not excommunicated.

"In times past excommunication was a huge thing, but today the hierarchy have lost such trust and respect," Reynolds was quoted by The Age.

"I've come to this position because I've followed my conscience on women's ordination and gay marriage," he said.

Excommunication is the strongest sanction and means one can not hold any office or receive any sacraments. Being laicised means one is no longer a priest.

In the same article, Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart said Reynolds was excommunicated because after his priestly faculties were withdrawn he continued to celebrate the Eucharist publicly and preach contrary to the teachings of the church.

Reynolds is not the first Australian Catholic to be excommunicated. Sister Mary MacKillop was excommunicated by her local bishop but was reinstated. In 2010 she became Australia's first saint.

Sources

The Age

Huffington Post

NCR Online

Image: Angela Wylie/The Age

Catholic Voices, whose aim is to improve the Catholic Church's representation in the media, began in Britain in 2010 with the training of 24 lay people and a priest in preparation for the visit of Pope Benedict XVI.

Its success there has led to groups of trained Catholic spokespeople being established in 10 other countries, providing the media with access to "well informed, practising Catholics who will represent the Church truthfully and passionately".

The latest group has been established in Melbourne, where a training weekend for nine speakers, led by the founders of Catholic Voices, was attended by two New Zealand observers.

"Catholic Voices Australia were thrilled to have the founders of this initiative, Mr Jack Valero and Dr Austen Ivereigh, come to Melbourne to launch the first speakers training weekend," said the group's co-ordinator, Kathleen O'Shea.

"Their visit to Australia, which also involved speaking about Catholic Voices at the Great Grace Conference in Sydney last week, has sparked huge support and excitement for the project across the country.

"CV Australia is hopeful that this momentum will carry across the Tasman, and would be very keen to see it take shape in New Zealand," she said.

Though Catholic Voices speakers do not represent the official Church, the project in Australia has been supported by the president of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference, Archbishop Denis Hart of Melbourne, and by Cardinal George Pell of Sydney.

The founders of Catholic Voices are both prominent Catholics in the UK.

Ivereigh, who has been deputy editor of The Tablet and public affairs director for Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, has written several books, the most recent being How to Defend the Faith without Raising your Voice.

Valero is press officer for Opus Dei in the UK and in 2010 was press officer for the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman during the papal visit.

Sources:

Catholic Voices

Catholic Voices Australia

Image: The Record

"No. Never," the Sydney cardinal told the inquiry. He said the offending had largely escaped the view of Church officials who didn't know what a "mess" they were presiding over.

Cardinal Pell was Archbishop of Melbourne from 1996 till 2001, and responsible for establishing the Melbourne Response to deal with victims of child sexual abuse.

An overflow crowd heard him reject claims that there had been a "culture of abuse" among priests.

"I think the bigger fault was nobody would talk about it, nobody would mention it," he said. He admitted his predecessor as Melbourne archbishop, Archbishop Frank Little, had "mishandled" one abuse case by destroying documents.

Cardinal Pell agreed under questioning that the fear of scandal led to a cover-up.

"The primary motivation would have been to respect the reputation of the Church," he said. "There was a fear of scandal."

He said the Church had been the victim of years of "intermittent hostility from the press" but he said this had helped uncover some of the Church's failings.

In its submission to the inquiry, the Catholic Church said at least 620 Victorian children had been abused by its clergy in the past 80 years.

The cardinal, who was the last of 160 witnesses before the inquiry, said many in the Church did not understand "just what damage was being done to the victims".

"If we'd been gossips, which we weren't ... we would have realised earlier just how widespread this business was," he said.

He agreed that the Church had been slow to address the anguish of the victims.

"I'm certainly totally committed to improving the situation. I know the Holy Father is too," he told the inquiry.

Cardinal Pell admitted that priestly celibacy "might have been a factor in some cases", though paedophilia was also perpetrated by married people in the community.

In the middle of last century, he said, the screening process for seminarians was "much too loose".

Sources:

The Australian

ABC News

The Age

The Australian

Image: The Age

According to Catholic Education's executive director, Stephen Elder, families are choosing Catholic schools because of their own experiences in the system, because they like the faith and morals, and because of an inclusive community that embraces discipline and academic performance.

Continue reading

The discovery, reported in The Age, is the result of confidential documents obtained by the paper.

The Age reports that the documents show how senior church leaders continued to shield Fr Victor Rubeo from scrutiny after child sex abuse allegations about him were first reported to the archdiocese in 1994.

Rubeo was also allowed to continue preaching in Melbourne's Boronia parish. Police or parishoners were not informed.

Further, file notes made in September 1994 by the then vicar-general of the Melbourne archdiocese, Gerald Cudmore, reveal he oversaw the appointment of Father Frank Klep, accused of child sex offences, as Rubeo's spiritual director after Rubeo's sex abuse had been reported.

Klep was convicted of indecent assault in December 1994, and despite his conviction continued to act as Rubeo's spiritual adviser during 1995.

Rubeo, 78, died the day before he was due to face a committal hearing in Melbourne's Magistrates Court after being charged with 30 new child sex offences.

On April 17, Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu announced a year-long parliamentary enquiry into the handling of criminal abuse of children.

In response, Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart undertook to co-operate with the enquiry.

"I reaffirm the Archdiocese's position that we have nothing to hide from such an independent inquiry, and I am confident that any inquiry into the Archdiocese's Melbourne Response process will confirm this," Hart said in a statement.

"My clear, and often stated, preference is for allegations of criminal conduct to be investigated by Victoria Police and dealt with in the criminal courts."

"The State, and not the Church, is best placed to deal with these matters."

Sources

• The Age
• CathNews

On Tuesday Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu announced a year-long parliamentary enquiry into the handing of criminal abuse of children.

The government has been under pressure to hold the enquiry since it came to office and finally bowed to public pressure with the revelations of dozens of suicides linked to sexual abuse by priests.

However the enquiry has already been undermined with deputy chairman of the Victoria Parliament's family and community development committee, Frank McGuire, saying his committee was too inexperienced and the wrong body for the task.

The committee has four of its six members having been in Parliament for less than 18 months.

Victims groups too are unhappy.

John McNally, a former altar boy who was abused by a priest insists he never got justice and says the parliamentary enquiry lacks teeth.

Victim spokeswoman, Nicky Davis warned that the enquiry might lead to more suicides amongst victims if it doesn't go far enough.

"Every victim has that battle with suicide ... if they are blocked again it could push some over the edge," she said.

"After the unadulterated joy of thinking, at last we will be listened to and not drowned out by church lies, comes the realisation we have been set up and given a poisoned chalice."

"We are going to try to all work together to fight this, and to get it changed to something with at least a chance of justice."

Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart and Bellarrat Bishop, Peter Connors have undertaken to co-operate with the enquiry.

"I reaffirm the Archdiocese's position that we have nothing to hide from such an independent inquiry, and I am confident that any inquiry into the Archdiocese's Melbourne Response process will confirm this," Hart said in a statement.

"My clear, and often stated, preference is for allegations of criminal conduct to be investigated by Victoria Police and dealt with in the criminal courts."

"The State, and not the Church, is best placed to deal with these matters."

Sources

• The Age
• The Age
• The Age
• The Australian
• Media Release: Denis Hart
• Image: The Courier

Most cases concern sexual abuse by Catholic brother, Robert Best and former priest Gerald Ridsdale.

"An inquiry would horrify the community", Vivian Walker told the Australian.

Dr Walker said "there has been an epidemic of abuse going on for a long time and the church has shown a great reluctance to do anything about it."

"The Christian Brothers were aware of the problem and they did nothing about it."

The Archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart, said the Archdiocese has good relations with the Police and promises the Archdiocese will cooperate fully should there be an enquiry.

"I reject absolutely the allegations that the Melbourne Archdiocese has covered up crimes," Hart told journalists.

Archbishop Hart said the church encouraged abuse victims to go to police but respected their right to privacy.

"Whilst it is understandable police want all crimes reported, the church had to weigh this against the right of each victim to make their own decision," he said.

"I believe the whole trauma of the abuse and behaviour of the individuals who are the abusers have wrecked people's lives. It's been very difficult for us ... to arrest that," Hart said.

"That is a source of continued pain to me."

Calls for an enquiry grew on the basis of a report released by Victorian police that details suicides of at least 40 people sexually abused by Catholic clergy.

There have been "an inordinate number of suicides which appear to be a consequence of sexual offending," Detective Sergeant Kevin Carson wrote in his report.

Despite mounting pressure, Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu said he is not yet ready to order an enquiry into what he called "very disturbing claims."

Baillieu said the possibility of an enquiry was on the Victorian Government's agenda; however he was not prepared to preempt the decision of the Victorian Attorney General.

Deputy Commissioner Graham Ashton said a submission based on those reports would recommend that the coroner examine the suicides and the response of the church to both the abuse and its aftermath.

Mr Ashton said police were compiling more detailed documents for consideration by the coroner.

"The coroner will examine the broader nature of those suicides and their relevance in relation to the Catholic Church," he told reporters in Melbourne.

"It will be a matter for the coroner as to what she does."

Mr Ashton said it is not fair to say the Catholic Church has been holding things back when they have been asked for them, but, he said, Police believe the onus is on the Church, when they see matters, to let the Police know about them rather than waiting for victims to come to the Police.

Representatives of the Christian Brothers movement were unavailable for comment.

Sources

• The Australian
• ABC Lateline
• SMH
• Herald Sun
• Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne
• Image: ABC Lateline