Australia - Royal Commission to Investigate Child Abuse by Clergy and Others

[Buddhas Hand]

Monday, August 27, 2012

A new scandal is shaking the Aussie Church (Contribution)

Accusations of cover-ups and blame-shifting by the Catholic Church in its handling of allegations of child sexual abuse by priests have been front-page news in Australia.

Newspaper headlines such as “Senior Catholic Priests in Child Sex Cover-Up Inquiry” point to claims that the Church has attempted to hide possible sex abuse within its walls rather than reporting it to the police.

Whether these cases will stand up is yet to be proved, but investigators in the states of New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria are currently searching for evidence that in many instances priests were merely moved on.

This is not unique to Australia.

There have been far-reaching repercussions from court cases involving cover-ups in Ireland, Germany and America.

Two dedicated investigations by the NSW police, Strike Force Lantle and Strike Force Glenroe, are currently looking into alleged cover-ups involving three senior churchmen, including a bishop and an archbishop.

An MP has renewed calls for a royal commission.

Last April in Victoria, following revelations of 40 suicides of abuse victims by two priests, the state government initiated a parliamentary inquiry into the failure of the Catholic Church to protect children from sexual abuse.

All members of the hierarchy vehemently deny the allegations. But even if subsequent court hearings come to nothing, they are re-focusing attention on the many priests already jailed for paedophilia.

There are no official figures, but since 1993 the charity Broken Rites alone has supported 150 cases which ended in prosecutions and are currently aiding another eight court cases.

They have also handled 15 cases that ended without convictions and 128 out-of-court settlements.

The abuse was so extensive that Pope Benedict, when visiting Sydney in 2008 on World Youth Day, made a public apology to victims in Australia.

Whether mandatory celibacy has contributed to abuse is now much debated.

One lawyer remarked: “Total denial of sexuality can have terrible repercussions. Pent-up sexual tensions sometimes find an outlet with the easiest available target – sadly this is often children.”

The fact that celibacy is a matter of Church discipline, not part of Church doctrine, has been emphasised in the recent revelations of 49-year-old Fr Kevin Lee of Sydney, who has been married to a woman in the Philippines for a year.

While in Australia I made inquiries into how all this will adversely affect congregations.

The answer is that Mass attendance is now similar to that in Dublin, with less than one in five Catholics kneeling in pews each Sunday.

But with 5.5 million Catholics – that is, 25.3 per cent of the population – the Catholic Church, despite the growth of Pentecostal churches, is Australia’s largest religion.

Along with diminishing churchgoers, the drop in the number of Australian-born priests continues.

In the 2012 directory of Catholic priests in Australia once again the most common name is Vietnamese. There are 40 priests called Nguyen.

But one positive trend is the vibrancy of Australia’s Catholic schools – mostly run by lay teachers.

With 650,000 students and around 21 per cent of all secondary school enrolments, they rank second after government schools.

As non-Catholic admissions are kept at around seven per cent, parish priests are sometimes asked by Catholic parents who never got around to having their babies baptised to perform late baptisms on children aged between four and 11.

These christenings are, alas, for expediency, not for faith.

[Buddhas Hand]

[Buddhas Hand]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=X4HkGWi9gmE

[Lillooet_Hillbilly]

I apologize to Ratiocinator that wasn't my intent. My intent was that this Royal commission was that it is gonna cover all religous sects. Every position of power from cub scouts to football you have perverts lurking. what this is gonna do is start making those people accountable which they should, no more cover ups, no more moving the perverts to another position

[Buddhas Hand]

I apologize to Ratiocinator that wasn't my intent. My intent was that this Royal commission was that it is gonna cover all religous sects. Every position of power from cub scouts to football you have perverts lurking. what this is gonna do is start making those people accountable which they should, no more cover ups, no more moving the perverts to another position

[RUPERTKBD]

The last one has a good quote:

In fact, has not the sexual abuse of children here also occurred at the hands of Anglican priests, rabbis, state school teachers, welfare workers, stepfathers and the feral many

[Heretic]

You make a fair point H, but the question is: How many of these other groups force celibacy upon their members and how many of them took an active role in suppressing information that would have incriminated said members?

[Buggernut]

You mean Australia's finally caught onto something the rest of the world knew about for decades?

[Jai604]

I agree with what the Catholic church said (based on the OP's posting) - that it is exaggerated.

Why?

Look at the first line:

"On Monday, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard ordered a Royal Commission into how churches, government bodies and other organizations..."

Yet almost the entire rest of the post by the OP is about the Catholic church.

Gee...I wonder why? I guess it really is persecution.

That said, I hope the commission finds what they are looking for and punishes those that are guilty.

[Wetcoaster]

Come talk to me when you've gone through, sitting in a courtroom, 20 feet from the accuser, and listening to your daughter tell everyone there how he date raped her.

Then come back and tell me my response is sad.

Until then...

[Canuckerbird]

Stories like this make my blood boil. The Vatican leadership needs a major shakeup. Get rid of this Pope, and replace him with someone younger, more liberal, in tune with changing social values, and isn't so completely sinister and full of crap.

Bring back the inquisition, only this time, point it towards priests suspected of being pedophiles.

[Buddhas Hand]

Stories like this make my blood boil. The Vatican leadership needs a major shakeup. Get rid of this Pope, and replace him with someone younger, more liberal, in tune with changing social values, and isn't so completely sinister and full of crap.

Bring back the inquisition, only this time, point it towards priests suspected of being pedophiles.

[Heretic]

Which has absolutely nothing to do with Catholic priests sexually abusing children.

[Wetcoaster]

Maybe, shows that it's just not Catholic priests (some) sexually abusing children.

Also shows my stance on what I think about lawyers.

I guess those Catholic priests you hate have the same type of lawyer that got the guy with my daughter free.

[Heretic]

Again irrelevant to the matter at issue which is the institutionalized nature of the abuse and the actions of the Catholic Church in covering up such abuse while shuffling problem priests to other parishes where they are free to offend again. The failure to report crimes against children to the civil authorties is one of the main concerns of the Australian Inquiry.

Like any person charged with any crime the law guarantees an accused the right to legal counsel.

[Wetcoaster]

Irrelevant like this commission is in Australia and you're posting information from Ireland, Belgium, Canada, etc?

I already stated that I agree with the commission.

And my bringing up what I did is relevant to the fact that I am close to people who have been sexually abused (not one from a Catholic nor any church BTW).

[Heretic]

Nope those references are not irrelevant as they set out the same practises by the Catholic Church world-wide as have occurred in Australia.

You need a better understanding of what is relevant or irrelevant to an issue. Your personal abuse experience has nothing to do with institutionalized abuse which is what the discussion is all about.

Apples and orangutans.

[Wetcoaster]

Sez who? You?

You need a better understanding of what it means to be a human being.

What would have been relevant would have been if you listed relevant information about the commission instead of the obvious witch hunting you partake in only going after something on the religious side. Your bias is your flaw. Not that I'm without any - I know.

[Heretic]

I fully understand what it means to be human being. Why would I not?

What witch hunt? I provided examples of the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests and the manner in which said priests have been protected by the Catholic Church in a number of countries and how the Catholic Church has been less than cooperative and forthcoming in dealing with these matters.

It seems you simply cannot handle the truth.

[Wetcoaster]

It seems you are lacking comprehension.

Maybe you should call the thread "Sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests" instead of "Australia - Royal Commission to Investigate Child Abuse by Clergy and Others" and just use their link of one of many examples.

I really hope you understand now - I'd hate to have you as my lawyer if it's too difficult for you....