An Australian state inquiry into the handling of child sex
cases by the Catholic Church on Wednesday said religious leaders
trivialised the problem and recommended concealment of abuse should be a
crime.
Its report tabled in the Victorian parliament follows a
long-running probe and concluded that “we can reasonably estimate that
there have been several thousand victims criminally abused in
non-government organisations in Victoria alone”.
The most senior Catholic in Victoria, Melbourne Archbishop Denis
Hart, admitted the church had been too slow toact on paedophile priests.
“I fully acknowledge that leaders in the church made mistakes these are indefensible,” he said.
The report, “Betrayal of Trust”, said failure to report serious child
abuse should lead to prosecution, a move likely to conflict with the
church’s insistence that information gathered in the confessional should
remain secret.
It also recommended making it illegal to groom a child; a new state
law making it a criminal offence to allow a child to remain at risk; and
streamlined legislation to make it easier for victims to sue.
The report also suggested an independent statutory body to oversee
the handling of sexual abuse allegations within government,
non-government and religious organisations.
Victorian Premier Denis Napthine, who is a Catholic, said the state
government would immediately begin drafting new legislation, which
should be introduced to parliament early next year.
“I’m ashamed and embarrassed by the actions of the Catholic Church, or the lack of actions on these matters,” he said.
“The evidence throughout the report is that the Catholic Church has a
lot to answer for in regard to their approach and culture and their
culture seemed to be one of protecting their priests and putting the
interests of the church ahead of the interests of children and victims. That is totally and utterly wrong.”
The report, which focused on the church but also examined other
non-government groups including the Salvation Army, said it was “beyond
dispute that some trusted organisations made a deliberate choice not to
follow processes for reporting and responding to allegations of criminal
child abuse”.
“There has been been a substantial body of credible evidence
presented to the inquiry and ultimately concessions made by senior
representatives of religious bodies, including the Catholic Church, that
they had taken steps with the direct objective of concealing
wrongdoing.”
The inquiry heard “graphic accounts that detailed horrendous and
traumatic experiences of victims abused as children in the care of
non-government organisations that spanned a period of decades through to
more recent times”.
It found the Catholic Church had often trivialised the problem,
shielded abusers or failed to disclose what was going on to protect its
image with even more recent cases seeing only generic apologies and
offers of compensation without admissions of guilt.
Archbishop Hart said: “I have to accept that church leaders in the
past concealed crimes and caused other children to be offended against.”
Inquiry committee chairwoman Georgie Crozier said children had suffered terribly.
“Children were betrayed by trusted figures in organisations of high standing and suffered unimaginable harm,” she said.
“Parents of these children experienced a betrayal beyond
comprehension. And the community was betrayed by the failure of
organisations to protect children in their care.”
Victim support group Broken Rites said the report was “a real milestone in this journey”.
“It validates that the victims are not guilty in any way and the
church, through their neglect of their duty, are the ones at fault,”
said spokesman John McNally.
The Catholic Church in Australia, as in other parts of the world, has
faced a long-running controversy over its response to past abuses by
priests.
A national royal commission is currently under way after a decade of
growing pressure to investigate widespread allegations of paedophilia.