London Diocese disputes claims that bishop's letter is lacking

A spokesperson for the Roman Catholic Diocese of London has disputed claims by two victims of abuse by priests who say a letter by Bishop Ronald Fabbro calling for "courageous" reforms in the church fails to spell out structural changes capable of preventing future abuse.

Fabbro's "letter to the faithful" is a commentary on the recent revelation of hundreds of abuse cases in Pennsylvania documented in a grand jury report.

Fabbro said the catholic church has learned from mistakes that were made in the past.

"We have apologized to survivors and asked their forgiveness. We have compensated them for the harm they suffered and provided counselling."

• LISTEN | Full interview with Father John Comiskey here

But a local survivor of sexual abuse challenged Fabbro's reference to counselling. John Swales suffered abuse as a teenager in the 1970s by Father Barry Glendinning and fought a court battle for compensation from the diocese that lasted 10 years.

Swales told CBC News the diocese recently imposed limitations and "people don't get all the counselling they need. They get less today than what the bishop committed to historically."

Father John Comiskey, a spokesperson for the London diocese, told the CBC program London Morning on Tuesday that any victim of abuse who has been entitled to counselling, has received it.

Limits on counselling

"What we've done, though, is we have found that some of our counsellors were continuing to see people 10 [and] 12 years after the event and after they started receiving counselling, and that's not consistent with what the various colleges and counsellors would agree to. They say that's not the protocol." said Comiskey

He said the diocese has been told that the worst cases of PTSD would take "three to four, maybe five years of counselling, and then it has to be weaned off."

He said that in the event that a victim had an episode requiring further counselling, the church "would help with that."  But, overall, he said the diocese found that it was following professional standards.

One abuse survivor and a long-time member of the church in London, who spoke to CBC News on condition of anonymity, said she sees little in the bishop's letter that lays out plans for substantive, structural changes to the operation of the diocese.

Comiskey said the letter did not reference "substantive changes that we have made since 1989, when we first established a policy to prevent sexual abuse."

He said the diocese has a protocol for safeguards, including the insistence that no adult in a church setting can be alone with children. It also requires windows on doors and in offices to ensure that outsiders can see what is going on inside.

Outside investigators

The parishioner suggested the church should go further by calling in an outside body to investigate abuse allegations.

Comiskey responded that the diocese already has an outside investigator in the form of its insurance company.

"They look at our policies … and they caution us if something needs to be changed, otherwise there's no coverage. They're from outside the diocese, they're not people of our diocese."

Comiksey dismissed another suggestion by the abuse survivor that a parish with a priest convicted of abuse should lose its charitable status, which would severely limit its ability to raise money.

Comiskey said such a policy would be unfair to the vast majority of priests and parishioners who are not abusing people.

"Why would you punish a whole parish to remove their charitable status because a priest offended or broke the law? That doesn't make sense."

Comiksey said priests who commit abuse are subject to criminal prosecution.

"People who bring forward allegations of abuse are told that they can take their case to the police and press criminal charges, if you wish. It's up to the individual."