THE Catholic Church is appealing to every Australian Catholic to help protect children and vulnerable people and to prevent sexual abuse.It is asking parishioners to be aware of the possibility of abuse, to learn more about the harm it does and how abusers groom their victims, and to trust their instincts when they are suspicious.
The National Committee for Professional Standards, which deals with complaints of abuse in the Catholic Church, is sending the program to every church on September 9, the end of Child Protection Week.
It will give every Catholic a card to take home suggesting ways they can be involved.
"The more people know what went on in the past, the more they understand the effects of abuse, the more we can keep people safe," the committee's protection and prevention officer, Sister Angela Ryan, said yesterday.
The committee has produced a nine-page statement that says people rarely make false claims about sexual abuse, and that in almost every case there were people who sensed there was a problem but failed to act because they weren't sure or didn't know how to respond.
Legislation and programs alone will not stop abuse. The primary element is a "heartfelt commitment by the whole church", which is why the commitment of each person is sought, the statement says.
It says abuse by priests and other church workers developed partly because of the trust and naivety of church members, the belief that abuse was perpetrated only by strangers, and the ability of abusers to exploit the vulnerable.
"We are not targeting clerics," Sister Ryan cautioned. "We've done a lot of work in that area and it's infinitely better. This is aimed at the whole church community."
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