Catholic Religious Australia president Sr Monica Cavanagh RSJ and Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president Archbishop Mark Coleridge spoke at a media conference in Sydney on Friday, expressing their deep sorrow that vulnerable children were abused, weren’t believed and weren’t supported when seeking justice.
Sr Monica said the royal commission “was an important and necessary period for the Australian community” and expressed gratitude to the survivors “whose courage in coming forward and telling their stories will mean that the Church and society will be safer in the future”.
“The process is already under way to reform the Church’s practices to ensure that safeguarding is integral in all that we do as part of our ministry and outreach in the community,” Sr Monica said.
Archbishop Coleridge said many changes had been made since the horrific reality of child sexual abuse became known, but they were sometimes too slow and too timid.
“Too many priests, brothers, sisters and lay people in Australia failed in their duty to protect and honour the dignity of all, including, and especially, the most vulnerable – our children and our young people,” Archbishop Coleridge said.
Archbishop Mark Coleridge and Sr Monica Cavanagh rsj speak at a Press Conference in North Sydney.
“Many bishops failed to listen, failed to believe, and failed to act. Those failures allowed some abusers to offend again and again, with tragic and sometimes fatal consequences. The bishops and leaders of religious orders pledge today: Never again.
“There will be no cover-up. There will be no transferring of people accused of abuse. There will be no placing the reputation of the Church above the safety of children.”
Archbishop Coleridge said the one royal commission recommendation the bishops could not accept concerned the seal of the Sacrament of Penance, since to accept it would be “contrary to our sense of faith and would corrode religious freedom”, The Catholic Leader reports.
“Australian priests and the lay faithful are deeply committed to both child safety and the seal of confession, which we hold to be inviolable,” he told reporters.
