Yet the new study from the Australian Catholic University’s Institute of Child Protection Studies showed a significant decline in the prevalence of abuse in the last five decades, falling from 2.2 per cent of men aged 65 and older, down to 0.2 per cent of men now aged 16-24.
One in every 250 Australians, or 0.4 per cent of the population, reported being abused by a pastor, member of clergy or other adult in a religious organisation.
Boys now aged 65 years or older were more likely than girls to be abused in this way, and the most common perpetrator was also male.
The analysis, led by PhD candidate Gabrielle Hunt, confirmed that the Catholic Church carries a proportionally higher burden of institutional child sexual abuse in this country, but also leads efforts to prevent and address such crimes.
The confronting findings were drawn from a major child maltreatment study of 8503 people aged 16 and above that Australian Catholic University contributed to last year which found that 28.5 per cent of people had experienced sexual abuse as a child.
The report put the decline down to lower levels of religious observance and engagement, rising secularisation, dilution of deference to organisational and religious authorities, robust preventative and response policies and work by organisations to prevent the admission of high-risk individuals to leadership positions.
Hunt said efforts to adopt working with children checks, mandatory reporting policies, and screening and training programs had contributed to the reduction in prevalence but that “more needs to be done.”
“I think we need to get to a point where we don’t accept the abuse of any child, and so I think we need to maintain our efforts to protect children and young people, including in religious organisations,” she said.
She said the greater prevalence of boys among victims of abuse in religious settings aligned with findings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and is not unique to religious organisations.
“Girls are at a substantially higher risk overall, and boys are at a greater risk across institutional settings, regardless of if they are affiliated with a religious group or not,” she said.
The study included forms of child sexual abuse that included physical contact and non-contact (such as acts of abusive self-exposure or voyeurism).
Most people who experienced child sexual abuse by leaders or other adults said it occurred in Catholic organisations (71.9 per cent), followed by other Christian denominations including Anglicans, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Orthodox (21.8 per cent) and non-Christian religious organisations (5.1 per cent).
Boys experienced more sexual abuse (0.8 per cent) than girls (0.1 per cent) by religious perpetrators and the average age at which child sexual abuse was first experienced was 9.8 years.
Despite the Royal Commission and other inquiries highlighting the problem of child sexual abuse in religious organisations, the study yields the first-ever national estimates of the prevalence of sexual abuse by a leader or adult in a religious organisation.
Authors said the numbers reported are “conservative” as they do not include acts perpetrated by adolescents or in other settings with religious affiliations such as schools and out-of-home care facilities.
“Accordingly, they underrepresent the true overall prevalence of child sexual abuse in religious organisations,” the report read.
ICPS Director and report co-author Professor Darryl Higgins said while all forms of child maltreatment are unacceptable, child sexual abuse in religious organisations is “particularly egregious” as it represented a stark betrayal of trust and a form of spiritual abuse.
But the decline in prevalence over time was a “very positive and promising shift.”
“It’s down to about one tenth of what it was about five decades ago, which is testament to not only the broader societal changes we’ve had and the Royal Commission throwing attention on these issues, but the engagement of all organisations that engage with and serve children and young people including places of worship, health, welfare, and education services.”
Dr Ursula Stephens, chief executive officer of Australian Catholic Safeguarding Ltd, said the data was an “important reminder of the importance of constant vigilance to ensure the level of child mistreatment and abuse in Australia is addressed.”
“The good news is that the research demonstrates the significant reduction in abuse of younger people by leaders in religious organisations since 2000,” she said.
“At ACSL we unequivocally acknowledge the lifelong trauma of abuse victims and survivors and their families.
“While the harm to victims and survivors can never be undone, the Catholic Church in Australia has learnt, and continues to learn from the grievous failures in its past and today is resolutely committed to providing safe environments for children, adults at risk and all people as its utmost priority.”
Australia has become a respected participant in international safeguarding efforts, with organisers of the International Safeguarding Conference held in Rome in June praising a presentation from representatives of the ACU, ACSL and the Archdiocese of Sydney’s Ephpheta Centre for the deaf and hard of hearing.
Safeguarding and disability was the 2024 theme for the annual event, held at the Pontifical Gregorian University.
The Australian group of 20 professionals met four times to discuss safeguarding and disability in the national context before presenting the input at Vatican conference.
“We were really impressed by the thoroughness of your work,” organisers told them.
In April the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference also released a new national code of conduct
for people ministering in Catholic dioceses around Australia, to
replace a number of earlier codes as requested by the Royal Commission
into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse.