BY Giorgia Wilson
A project by the University of Newcastle aims to develop a map of the historic perpetrator networks in the Catholic and Anglican Churches, charting their movements within the institutions.
Dr Kathleen McPhillips, Senior Lecturer at the University of Newcastle School of Humanities and Social Science, is currently recruiting survivors and community members for the project focusing on the Hunter.
"What we're doing is trying to see if there is evidence to establish whether there was an organisation of clergy perpetrators and not just a few bad apples in an otherwise good barrel as claimed by the Churches," said Dr McPhillips.
This follows on from the Child Abuse Royal Commission findings for the Hunter region and involves using social network analysis to build a map of the network of clergy perpetrators and their supporters.
Dr McPhillips says research suggests that child abuse was highly organised and facilitated by adults both within and external to schools and parishes.
"We suspect there is a network" says Dr McPhillips, "we think that survivors have a lot of information that can help us put this map together."
Dr McPhillips' research is investigating public inquiry and church-based archives and documents, and interviewing survivors, their families, and the community to put together the picture of the movement of the clergy perpetrators and who they networked with.
"The project is very important in terms of child safety" said Dr McPhillip's, "we will develop more skills to understand child protection and how that is best served."
If you would like to take part in the project, Dr McPhillips can be contacted via email at kathleen.mcphillips@newcastle.edu.au or phone her office on 02 4921 5920
If you need help, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
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| Dr Kathleen McPhillips |
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| Catholic and Anglican Churches |
