AUSTRALIA: CATHOLIC SCHOOL RE-HIRES PRINCIPAL

CATH NEWS REPORT: Brisbane Catholic Education has defended the recent hiring of a former principal which has angered parents of abuse victims from his former school, the ABC reports.

The principal did report the abuse complaints to his superiors - although not to the police, said BCE.

"What he's been employed to do on a casual basis in a school in Ipswich has been simply to work as a relief teacher or supply teacher when another teacher has been sick," said Brisbane Catholic Education spokesman John Phelan.

"It's an entirely different situation from the role he held in Toowoomba."

The former principal, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was in charge of a primary school at Toowoomba in southern Queensland when allegations of sexual assault surfaced about teacher Gerard Byrne.

Byrne is now serving ten years in jail for abusing 13 girls at the school.

Announcing an out-of-court settlement with five families whose children were abused, Toowoomba Bishop William Morris again again offered his apologies to the victims.

Five families have agreed to the compensation after mediation talks were held with former High Court judge Ian Callinan QC this week.

"I am committed to ensuring that our apology is supported by action," said Bishop Morris in a media statement. "The Diocese sought to make the compensation process as uncomplicated as possible for the victims' families. I sincerely thank the victims' families for the courageous and heartfelt manner in which they participated in the mediation process."

"I am pleased that for these five victims and their families an expeditious settlement was able to achieved, as it is another step on their long journey of healing," Bishop Morris said.

The statement said compensation amounts are confidential and that further cases will be dealt with in the new year.

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=24399

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