The Catholic Church’s Truth, Justice and Healing Council, better know as the PR unit charged with dealing with the fall-out from the Royal Commission, has appointed Dr. Marian Sullivan, a child and adolescent psychiatrist.

Dr. Sullivan has been a member of the Medical Board of Queensland since 2005 and sits as the Chair of the Health Assessment and Monitoring Committee. She is a consultant to Catholic Psychiatric Pastoral Care, which operates under the Centacare umbrella. She is married to Don, a member of the famously intelligent Varghese clan.

Clearly, Dr. Sullivan is there to lend credibility to the Catholic Church’s stance on both the effects of child sexual abuse and all it is doing to help victims. It is a bit like having an iron man endorse a breakfast cereal. It convinces a lot of people, and is well worth the money.

[Postscript: Is this a new trend? After being reported to police by church officials, Catholic priest Glen Gardner pleaded guilty to the theft of parish property, including a monstrance used to display Eucharistic bread, a ciborium used to hold communion wafers, two candelabra, altar candlesticks, a missal stand, an incense burner and linens.]

TOMORROW: Catholic Church PR Unit: Greg Elder

That’s all I can say

Lewis Blayse (né Lewin Blazevich)