Child sex abuse apology: The hardest word heals but action matters most

Words can hurt and words can heal. Chrissie Foster knows that better than most. When she and her late husband Anthony first sought justice for their daughter Emma, who was abused as a child by Father Kevin O’Donnell and killed herself after years of mental anguish, they were airily dismissed by then Sydney bishop — now Archbishop — Anthony Fisher of “dwelling crankily … on old wounds”. When Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart was questioned at the Victorian inquiry into clerical sex abuse about the two-decade delay in dealing with notorious paedophile Father Des Gannon — the priest had been convicted of sex attacks in 1995, 1997, 2000 and 2003 — Melbourne’s most senior priest smirked: “Well, better late than never.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/child-sex-abuse-apology-the-hardest-word-heals-but-action-matters-most/news-story/701565b75c82923350bd1d6ce8d3d3db