– Customer review on 30/06/2009

Ann Thompson first came to my attention when she started contributing to the CathNews discussion board in Australia which I helped administer. Her story, and the ways in which she told it upset some people to the point where there was a steady flow of complaints from a minority wanting to have Ann barred from contributing to the discussion board. Privately I sought the feelings of the community at large, and also the management of CathNews, as to how we might handle the situation. After much consultation we decided to give Ann as much freedom as possible in order to relate her story. The CathNews Discussion Board eventually spawned Catholica (www.catholica.com.au) and in this community we have endeavoured to continue our encouragement of Ann.

From the at times barely articulate woman we first encountered six or seven years ago, Ann has blossomed into an articulate and strong advocate for the victims of child sexual abuse. It is almost as great a thrill for many of us in the Catholica community who have followed Ann's story from the beginning of her appearance on the internet to see her story now picked up by a major publisher in Penguin New Zealand.

Ann's story is tragic not only for the abuse but for the fact that she was deprived of any significant education.

It is testimony to her personal growth that despite many educational and social handicaps she has sought out the people who could help her tell her story. While, in so many ways, her story is tragic and harrowing, it is also a story of great hope and poignancy.

Ann has emerged as a person of great strength in personal character and is fearless today in standing up for the victims of sexual and other forms of abuse. I commend Fiona Craig for her editing of Ann's story and also thank Fr Tom Doyle for the powerful appendix he provides to Ann's story.

Brian Coyne
editor & publisher

http://www.catholica.com.au/index.php