ESSAY: THE NATIONAL APOLOGY TO VICTIMS OF INSTITUTIONAL CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE MATTERS. HERE’S WHY
In an article first published on The Conversation, DARYL HIGGINS, director of the Institute of Child Protection Studies at Australian Catholic University, reflects on why a national apology to victims of institutional child sexual abuse is an important moment…
Breaking – Australian PM delivers national apology to victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse
Last updated 12.20pmAustralia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison has delivered a national apology to victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse in the nation’s Federal Parliament. “Silenced voices. Muffled cries in the darkness. Unacknowledged tears. The tyranny of invisible suffering. The never-heard pleas of tortured souls bewildered by an indifference to the unthinkable theft of […]
Updated: Catholic Church in Australia says it won’t lift the seal of confession despite Royal Commission recommendation
Latest update: 4pmAustralia’s Catholic Church has accepted “98 per cent” of recommendations from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse but cannot accept a recommendation that the seal of confession be broken to report abuse suspicions. In a report detailing its response to the Royal Commission’s recommendations, the church said it did not […]
Australian Catholic bishops call for four days of “fasting and reparation” in sorrow for child sexual abuse
Australian Catholic bishops have called upon Catholics to fast and pray during the first four days of Lent “in sorrow for child sexual abuse and the healing of victims”. In a message to the Catholic community for the beginning of Lent, the bishops said that with the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse […]
ESSAY: ABANDONING CELIBACY WON’T STOP SEXUAL ABUSE BY PRIESTS
US Catholic priest THOMAS REESE, in an article first published on Religion News Service, responds to the recommendations of Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse…
Updated: Australian Royal Commission recommends religious ministers be compelled to report child sex abuse and Vatican consider making celibacy voluntary
Updated: 12pm, 16th December, 2017 Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses in Child Sexual Abuse has handed down its final report with 189 recommendations, including that religious ministers be forced to report suspicions or knowledge of abuse gained in the confessional and that the Catholic Church consider introducing voluntary, instead of mandatory, celibacy for clergy. […]
Australia’s Anglican Primate says church “deeply appreciates” work of Royal Commission looking into child sexual abuse
Australia’s Anglican Primate, Dr Philip Freier, has said the Anglican Church “deeply appreciates” the work of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse as the Royal Commission hands down its final report. In a statement, Dr Freier, the Archbishop of Melbourne, said that while the Anglican Church of Australia had “worked assiduously” and […]
Updated: Clergy should have to report child sexual abuse, even if information comes from confessional, Australian Royal Commission recommends
Clergy should have to report child sexual abuse even if the crime comes to light during confession, Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has recommended. The recommendation is one of 85 contained in the report, Criminal Justice, released on Monday. Writing in the report, the commission said that while they understood the […]