SYDNEY, Aug 31, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Australian Catholic leaders vowed Friday
that the church’s “shameful” history of child abuse and cover-ups will never
be repeated, but rejected a national inquiry’s call to report such assaults
disclosed in confession.
The church was formally responding to a five-year royal commission into
institutional child abuse, ordered by the government after a decade of
pressure to investigate widespread allegations across the country.
“Many bishops failed to listen, failed to believe, and failed to act,” said
Catholic Bishops Conference president Archbishop Mark Coleridge, vowing there
would be no more “cover-ups”.
“Those failures allowed some abusers to offend again and again, with tragic
and sometimes fatal consequences. The bishops and leaders of religious orders
pledge today: Never again.”
The commission was contacted by more than 15,000 survivors who detailed
claims of abuse involving churches, orphanages, sporting clubs, youth groups
and schools, often dating back decades.
Among the inquiry’s recommendations was that priests break the traditional
confidentiality of confession if they are told of abuse, but the church said
such a requirement impinged on religions liberties.
“The only recommendation we can’t accept relates to removing the seal of
confession,” said Coleridge.
“This isn’t because we regard ourselves as being above the law or because
we don’t think the safety of children is supremely important — we do.
“But we don’t accept that safeguarding and the seal as mutually exclusive.
Nor do we believe that abolishing the seal will make children any safer.”
The national inquiry, which heard horrific stories during often confronting
and emotionally exhausting public and private hearings, delivered its final
report in December.
It found that Australian institutions “seriously failed” children in their
care with tens of thousands sexually assaulted
Sister Monica Cavanagh, president of Catholic Religious Australia, said the
church accepted 98 percent of the recommendations, calling the inquiry “an
important and necessary period for the Australian community”.
“The process is already under way to reform the church’s practices to
ensure that safeguarding is integral in all that we do as part of our
ministry and outreach in the community,” she said.
“Making the Church a safer place for our children and vulnerable persons is
at the heart of our commitment to mission.”