Posts Tagged Australia
Catholic Church in Australia links celibacy to abuse / CathNews.com
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Celibacy, Clergy Sexual Abuse, Voice of the Faithful on December 12, 2014
The Catholic Church in Australia on Friday said that obligatory celibacy may have contributed to priests abusing children, and recommended that clergy should be given ‘psychosexual’ training.
“In a landmark report, an Australian Catholic Church body dealing with the legacy of child sex abuse added that some church institutions and their leaders turned a blind eye to what was going on for years.
“‘Obligatory celibacy may also have contributed to abuse in some circumstances,’ the Truth, Justice and Healing Council said.”
By CathNews.com — Click here to read the rest of this story.
Senior Australian Bishop Charged with Sex Abuse / Agence France-Press
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Clergy Sexual Abuse, Voice of the Faithful on June 30, 2014
One of the most senior members of the Catholic Church in Australia has stepped down from his role after being charged with child sex abuse, the Church said on Monday (June 30).
“Max Davis, who heads the church’s military diocese, is reportedly Australia’s most senior clergyman and the first Australian Catholic bishop to be charged with a child sex offense.”
By Agence France-Presse on DigitalJournal.com — Click here to read the rest of this story.
The Future of the Catholic Church — Catholicism in Australia Undergoing Tectonic Shifts / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Clericalism, Future of the Church, Voice of the Faithful on March 18, 2014
More than a hundred people turned out on a Sunday afternoon in late November to the crypt of historic St. Patrick’s Church in Sydney for a presentation by a forensic psychologist on the sex abuse scandal jarring the Catholic community in Australia.
“During a question-and-answer session, a woman in the audience made a sarcastic reference to priests once thinking they were ‘ontologically different.’ The phrase provoked an immediate howl of laughter, as if she’d delivered a punch line of a joke.”
By Tom Roberts, National Catholic Reporter — Click here to read the rest of this sotry.
Australian Inquiry Scrutinizes Church / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Clergy Sexual Abuse, Voice of the Faithful on December 31, 2013
The clergy sexual abuse scandal in Australia seems to be following a familiar script, with many acts still to come.
Australian survivors of clerical sexual abuse have been complaining for years about their dissatisfaction with Towards Healing, the Catholic church’s national protocol for responding to abuse. The inner workings of Towards Healing were laid bare in November and December during two weeks of public hearings held here before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse …
“One thousand private hearings have already been conducted. One of the most shocking revelations in early December concerned the handling of allegations of abuse by Marist Br. Raymond Foster, a teacher who committed suicide in 1999, just hours before he was due to face charges of abusing a 13-year-old boy in a north Queensland school in the early 1970s.”
By Stephen Crittenden, National Catholic Reporter — Click here to read the entire article.
Australian State of Victoria Releases Report on Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Clergy Sexual Abuse, Voice of the Faithful on November 13, 2013
The Catholic Church figures prominently in the Australian state of Victoria’s report released today on the Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and other Non-Government Organizations.
As an indication of the impact of the inquiry, the news coverage is too extensive even to list a sampling, but click here for a Google round-up of stories about its investigation and results. One of the most recent stories, Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse Prompts Push to Make Abuse Silence a Crime, reports, “Horrific sexual abuse cover-ups by the Catholic Church has led to a parliamentary committee recommending new offences for grooming children and failing to report crimes.”
As you might expect, the report is rather lengthy, but here are links to the executive summary and both volumes:
Catholic Church Admits Grave Faults in Dealing with Abuse Victims / The Guardian
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Clergy, Clergy Sexual Abuse, Voice of the Faithful on October 3, 2013
The Catholic Church has admitted grave faults in its dealings with victims of sex abuse by priests. The peak body that represents the church, the Truth Justice and Healing Council, has reported shoddy record-keeping, secrecy, inconsistent outcomes and lack of effective supervision of the dioceses and religious orders responsible for the care of victims.” By David Marr, The Guardian
Read the rest of the story by clicking here.
Cases of Sexual Abuse Will Shock the Nation / Australian Regional Media
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Clergy Sexual Abuse, Voice of the Faithful on September 17, 2013
More than 4000 people have reported allegations of child sexual abuse to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse since it began in January. In the first day of public hearings in Sydney on Monday (Sept. 16), Commissioner Justice Peter McClellan warned the stories the commission had already heard would shock the nation. The commission has already heard the cases of nearly 400 victims, with a further 449 waiting to tell their stories and another 1178 people yet to be assessed for private hearings.” By MyDailyNews.com of Australian Regional Media
Read the rest of this story by clicking here, and you may be interested in this editorial point of view from Australia’s Newcastle Herald, “Child Sex Abuse Inquiry.”
Early Handling of Sex Abuse Allegations Was ‘Fairly Bumbling’
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Catholic Bishops, Clergy Sexual Abuse, Voice of the Faithful on July 15, 2013
An Australian bishop told a special commission of inquiry into sexual abuse that he failed to familiarize himself with the personnel file of a serial pedophile priest ‘because the whole area of sexual abuse is so distasteful that I would have found it very unpalatable to dig further.'” By Stephen Crittenden, National Catholic Reporter
Read the entire article by clicking here.
Clergy Sexual Abuse Kept Secret for 50-years, Australian Inquiry Hears
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Catholic Bishops, church reform, Clergy Sexual Abuse, Voice of the Faithful on July 12, 2013
The Hunter Valley in New South Wales, two hours north of Sydney, is best known for its vineyards, surf beaches, coal mines and polluting power stations. But in recent years, the region has also become known as the epicenter of Catholic sex abuse in Australia.
Since 1996, seven priests, four religious brothers and six lay teachers of the Maitland-Newcastle diocese have been convicted. The church has paid compensation to the victims of eight other priests, and four priests and two brothers are currently facing abuse or concealment charges. There are 400 known victims.
Now, a special commission of inquiry in Newcastle has heard that leaders of the diocese knew of the numerous pedophiliac activities of one priest, Fr. Denis McAlinden, for 50 years, but did not notify police until 2003.” By Stephen Crittenden, The Sydney Morning Mail, in National Catholic Reporer
Read this entire article, “Australia Inquiry Hears of 50-Year Cover-Up,” by clicking here.
Three Australian Catholic Bishops Call for End to Clergy Sexual Abuse of Children ‘For Good’
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Catholic Bishops, church reform, Clergy, Clergy Sexual Abuse, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on June 5, 2013
The Roman Catholic Church clergy sexual abuse scandal in Australia continues to prompt calls for reform, particularly since the beginning earlier this year of the Australian national royal commission inquiry. Now, two former Australian bishops have joined Emeritus Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Sydney Geoffrey Robinson to seek reforms and to promote a Vatican III to look at the structure of Church.
A group of rebel Catholic bishops have today (June 4) launched a petition to tell the people at the top – the Pope and the Vatican – to act to stop the abuse of children within the church. Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, emeritus auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Sydney, said the national royal commission into institutionalized child sex abuse could bring healing and change laws but it could not force the church hierarchy to make fundamental changes.” From story by Janet Fife-Yeoman, The Daily Telegraph, “Catholic Bishops Launch Appeal to Church for Action on Child Abuse,” as the story appeared in The Australian — Click here to read the entire article.
National Catholic Reporter columnist Jamie Manson interviewed Bishop Robinson several days before his announcement of his online petition for an ecumenical council and a new book.
Robinson, a retired auxiliary bishop from Sydney, created the petition in conjunction with the release of his latest book, For Christ’s Sake: End Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church…for Good. The book, like the petition, calls on the church hierarchy to confront the systemic causes, like moral immaturity and the celibate culture, that have contributed both to the abuse and to the bishops’ woefully inadequate response to the crisis.” Read Ms. Manson’s entire interview by clicking here.
The Australian media have covered the continent’s child sexual abuse scandal extensively. Here are links to a couple of additional news stories about Bishop Robinson’s petition and book:
Voice of the Faithful
A lay movement for governance reform in the Roman Catholic Church, responding to the clergy sexual abuse scandal and supporting survivors.
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