''And there was nowhere near enough prominence given to the report's most significant finding - that a senior Catholic church official could be charged, not with child sex offences, but concealing or failing to report them.
As I said on Lateline that night, if the official is charged it will be significant in world terms, because there have been less than a handful of such prosecutions anywhere in the world.''
One final point about the "Peter Fox is to blame, nothing to see here" assessment of the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry report. There were findings about me, reported in the Newcastle Herald but virtually nowhere else except for the ABC. They were:
In other words, the police had alleged I had concealed evidence from police and hindered the Strike Force Lantle investigation, but Commissioner Margaret Cunneen, SC, found there was "no evidence" of that.
So Fox's allegations against police were not substantiated, and the NSW Police Force's (extremely serious, I might add) allegations against me were not substantiated, at all, which would appear to be a resounding media win under extraordinary circumstances.
And thanks for asking.
Child abuse inquiry: don't forget the big picture
OPINIONUpdated
Many people want to move on after findings from the Special Commission of Inquiry into allegations of a cover-up of child sexual abuse claims in the Catholic diocese, but we should still be focussing on the bigger picture, writes Joanne McCarthy.
Let us think about the release of the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry report into Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox's allegations about NSW Police and Catholic Church handling of child sex allegations, and imagine a car crash.
We're sitting in traffic, passing slowly by, but from what we can see in the tangle of cars and crushed metal, it looks like Inspector Fox is to blame.
Certainly police at the crash site are waving us on.
"Nothing to see here, people," they say. "Move along."
And so a lot of the media did move along on May 30, after the first rush of headlines on the night of the report's release.
Peter Fox was to blame. The "hero" cop wasn't a hero anymore, just a man who was "deliberately untruthful" and prone to exaggeration. Oh dear. The police were vindicated. And what about that journalist, the one who made the speech at the Walkleys? Didn't she do something dodgy?
If the report's release has demonstrated anything to me, it is that the media isn't as good at spotting and pursuing bigger picture issues as it thinks it is.
Fox's allegations on the ABC's Lateline in November 2012 were clearly the starting point for the commission of inquiry, and his failure to substantiate his later evidence to the Inquiry that a police investigation into the Catholic Church was a "sham", or that a "Catholic mafia" existed within the NSW Police, obviously needed to figure prominently.
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VIDEO: Commissioner delivers damning assessment(7pm TV News NSW)But in the rush to meet deadlines after the report's 3pm release there was too much reliance on the findings alone, too few questions about why a very senior NSW police officer would engage so closely with the media in the first place, no questions about the number of police on stress leave, including Fox, in the Hunter, or whether we should be drawing conclusions about police culture, based on the aggressive treatment of one of its own.
And there was nowhere near enough prominence given to the report's most significant finding - that a senior Catholic church official could be charged, not with child sex offences, but concealing or failing to report them.
As I said on Lateline that night, if the official is charged it will be significant in world terms, because there have been less than a handful of such prosecutions anywhere in the world.
A too-close focus on the "Peter Fox is to blame, let's move on" narrative also misses another point - the inquiry confirmed the Catholic Church had known about two child sex offender priests, Denis McAlinden and Jim Fletcher, for decades. Not only had it known about them, but despite being given many chances to come clean in these more "enlightened" times, it had not told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And I should know, because I was the journalist putting the questions directly to the church - and not just in the Hunter region - since 2006.
So if the church had known all this time, and the police have been prosecuting paedophile priests in the Hunter since 1995, and the Newcastle Herald has been providing public proof, since late 2007, that the church has hidden and moved its child sex offenders both in Australia and overseas, why hasn't there been a successful "conceal"-type prosecution in this country yet?
And that's where all the fascinating bigger picture issues that haven't been reported dwell - the kinds of things being explored at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
If I learnt one thing from my experiences in 2010, after taking the documents to police that started this whole thing rolling, it is that the true culpability of institutions like the Catholic Church will never be fully explored within the criminal justice system, by way of prosecutions against individuals who failed to report clergy sex offenders to police.
The specific NSW conceal serious crime charge, section 316 of the NSW Crimes Act, is problematic and only applies to matters from the early 1990s. But at least NSW has such a charge on the books. Other Australian states don't.
That throws up another bigger picture issue. If the true culpability of the Catholic Church cannot be addressed in the criminal system, then we need a robust compensation system to address not just the crimes of the offenders, but the culpability of the church that knew of their offences against children.
And in Australia today that avenue, too, is blocked to victims, because of a High Court decision popularly known as the "Ellis defence", which forces victims back to the now discredited Towards Healing process that is administered by the Catholic Church.
Bigger picture, I know, and possibly eye-glazing, but these are the kind of holes that victims kept falling into, and which I became aware of after those first articles back in 2006. Which is why I ended up writing "There will be a royal commission because there must be", back in August 2012.
One final point about the "Peter Fox is to blame, nothing to see here" assessment of the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry report. There were findings about me, reported in the Newcastle Herald but virtually nowhere else except for the ABC. They were:
In other words, the police had alleged I had concealed evidence from police and hindered the Strike Force Lantle investigation, but Commissioner Margaret Cunneen, SC, found there was "no evidence" of that.
So Fox's allegations against police were not substantiated, and the NSW Police Force's (extremely serious, I might add) allegations against me were not substantiated, at all, which would appear to be a resounding media win under extraordinary circumstances.
And thanks for asking.
Joanne McCarthy has been a journalist for 34 years. She has been at the Newcastle Herald since 2002 and won the Gold Walkley in 2013 for reporting on child sexual abuse and the need for a royal commission. View her full profile here.
First posted
Comments (82)
sdrawkcaB:
It seems the Salvos stepped on the front foot and apologized 4 years ago and are taking steps.
Conversely, the catholic church have been dragged kicking and screaming through the whole process.
Mitor the Bold:
It was clear from day one of the Royal Commission that this whole issue would bland-out into background noise and that no-one would held accountable. In the UK one ex-DJ, Jimmy Saville, was shuffled around the BBC rather than being prosecuted, which has led to many sackings and much institutional change - in the Catholic church hundreds of paedophile priests have been shuffled around diocese and around the world with the church hierarchy in full knowledge of their actions and with the single intent to avoid accountability to victims and scrutiny to the outside world.
It's time this insidious organisation was treated like a bikie gang - a meeting of clergy on the matter of paedophile priests should be regarded in the first instance as a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
Rabbithole:
Further to your argument, look how the Catholic Church protect a high profile American Bishops who protected the pedophile racket for wealthy American Priests in the US for years? They made him the president of Vatican City to exclude him from Lawful prosecution in the US and elsewhere.
awake:
God only knows what else has happened to children in the hands of the religious. For their sake keep going. Never mind the embarrassment for those in power.
Zing:
The true point of this inquiry is the bigger picture: To take an organisation which society once held beyond scrutiny and finally drag them into the light for all to see.
As a result, today's parents will think twice before letting their children become alterboys. Departments will think twice before putting children in state care. Our society will think twice before noting something odd and thinking "It's not my concern - I shouldn't say anything".
The victims may never achieve justice. But by telling their story, countless potential victims will be saved.
Val Doxan:
I do so hope that the High Court will overturn this on constitutional grounds.
whohasthefish:
This chaplaincy program does show this Government for what it is. A bunch of zealots who actually believe they know what is best for our children. Back to the 50's in every way is this governments ethos to the detriment of our society. When asked about this program, the LNP front bench has stated that it is the Federal Governments money and they will spend it as they see fit. Well, it is not their money it is ours, the Australian People. Unbelievable arrogance from an unbelievably out of touch government that simply ignores the wishes and needs of the People.
The sooner this government is ousted for their lies and their arrogance and the sooner religions of all faiths are removed from out state funded educational institutions the better. Studying religions in a historical context is legitimate but indoctrination and forced values is abhorrent and has no place in our secular schools. ps. $245,000,000 is the equivalent to 35,000,000 x $7 co payment visits to the doctor.
Will Hunt:
further, when you put the dollar value like that... thats a lot of 'couple of beers'!
Frisha:
Miowarra:
A Catholic-riddled government and the Catholic church. It's a difference of no consequence.
I draw your attention to one of the fundamental laws of geometry.The Law of Congruence.
"Things which are equal to the same thing are equal to each other"
DannyS:
Some parents will think twice before letting their sons become altar boys, but there will still be altar boys. And government departments have no other option than to put children in state care. This Royal Commission has had the effect of putting everyone under scrutiny, the Catholic Church, The Church of England, the Salvation Army and other institutions that have hidden the evil doers in their ranks for so long. The evil individuals that would have joined such organisations in the future will most likely find other ways to destroy our young people and that is what we must look out for.
And much, much more needs to be done to stop the growing trend of abuse of children by other children. And there is growing evidence that children are being groomed by paedophiles to bring other children into their despicable world.
BTW, I went to catholic schools and I was even an altar boy. There was never any inappropriate behaviour of any description. I have been an atheist for many decades, but for no other reason than I think religion is quite frankly laughable.
Corbachov:
Lee:
Abuse has been systematic in MANY institutions public/private/religious for many, many years and cover-ups in all institutions was also systematic. By scapegoating one institution you are denying justice to all the other victims. The one thing that this Royal Commission HAS shown is that the abuse was not confined to one religious institution but was a fault of society as a whole and that is the situation that must be addressed instead of the narrow focus on one organisation.
I was working with a survivors group when the Royal Commission was first proposed and was only going to focus on the Catholic Church, several of the victims I was working with who had been abused in Salvation Army homes were devastated and were horrified at the thought that they would be forgotten and the abuse that they suffered would be swept under the carpet. Much of the push for an expansion of the commissions role came from the survivors groups not the Catholic Church.
Skeptic:
paul:
it becomes clear what an evil institution the church
is.To allow such monstrous treatment of children
obviously on an international scale.
If this is happening in the first world.
What in God's name is happening in the third!
Mitor the Bold:
And perhaps more importantly, if this is happening in Christian institutions where such things can now be spoken about, what is happening in Muslim and Jewish institutions where such speculation is forbidden entirely and risks bringing 'dishonour' to the families of those involved? Are we to believe there's something peculiar about Jesus that makes men abuse children whereas the other religions are all sweetness and light?
JohnnoH:
paul:
does the church have behind it. only to be dragged screaming
and kicking into the light.Not by its own leaders but by outsiders
that it would have probably burnt at the stake 300 years ago.
Sorry but where exactly have these good and righteous people
been all these years?
Erik the Red:
Your argument can also be used to demonise the current white Australia for the crimes condoned and covered up by the early European settlers against indigenous peoples. Only extremists and haters judge the people of this time for the crimes of people of another time. Repairing the damage is something else altogether.
Other than criminal acts, would each of us be judged on only the bad things we have done in our lives or on the balance of the good and the bad? Would we have our family judged by all of the crimes of our ancestors? Many of the criminals in our jails had their crimes covered up for fear of bringing shame to their family, until they could be covered up no more.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Response is appropriate and has been exposing the behaviour of institutions that, at worst, condoned these crimes and at best concealed them.
The Catholic Church, and others, have said that they would hand over investigations to an independent body and contribute financially to the independent body. They have said that they will hand over all of the previous settlements to this commission for reconsideration and would increase compensation if required. They encourage the prosecution of the criminals in their ranks. They now recognise that no matter how diligently they attempt to make good on the suffering of the victims through an internal process it is impossible to do so. The victims, understandably don't want to talk to the perpetrator.
Finally the institutions concerned realise that the victim is the ONLY one requiring care, repair and compensation and that is best dealt with by an independent commission where their case can be heard without judgement and they can seek justice without the glare of publicity that the media, legal and advocacy system thrust upon them.
We have a set of independent bodies that moderate the behaviour of corporations to protect the rights of shareholders, employees and customers. They prosecute individuals and impose fines on the company who break the law but don't punish innocent shareholders or the customers for the crimes of the corporations or its executive.
We need to venerate those victims brave enough to survive and bring us to where we are now. Thank you all, I wish you a future life full of happiness.
It is only the catholic haters, radical journalists and the lawyers who want to perpetuate the suffering of the victims of the crimes of these institutions. For some of them, only the destruction of the church will be enough.
Most of the rest of us want to bring to the victims justice and peace for their suffering. Repair is something that may be impossible to deliver, but it is rarely achieved through rev
RobP:
Those people have always been there, but in the examples you cite, they have been out-muscled by bigger forces.
The Church is just an empty slate, an inert entity, that is only as good as the activities it carries out which is, in turn, a function of the motives of the prime movers within it. Plenty of bad things have been done in the name of the Church, but that has normally been instigated at a high political level in the past, when the Church sought power by aligning itself with national Governments.
leafygreens:
The church may not be evil, but neither is it the bastion of morality & goodness it professes to be. It would do well to admit it is a human institution, containing flawed people on both sides of the altar.
Erik the Red:
The tank was discovered in 1975 by children playing in a field, it is believed that they accumulated over almost a century. So at a rate of maybe up to ten a year.
Ireland during this time was a third world country and the Catholic Church provided education and health care to the poorest of the poor, the state provided nothing. They took in the people that polite society rejected and helped them survive.
An unwed mother was considered a pariah and a sinner. Our current moral framework cannot be caste back to the treatment of unwed mothers of the 60s, let alone centuries ago.
Today we consider an aborted foetus to be medical waste and treat it accordingly. The rate of accumulation in the tank could be accounted for by still births alone.
I know that there are corpses of older children have been found but there are many explanations as to why that might be. There are times when the disposal of a corpse is one of expedience and not ceremony.
There is an investigation underway with the full co-operation of the Catholic Church to discover the circumstances. This is not a cover-up but a great sadness to be fully documented.
There are historical records of those interred and hopefully they will be given recognition as something more than medical waste.
Patricia:
Ted:
taxedoff:
themoor:
After all that has happened it is very disturbing to find that people are still trying to conceal abuse within the Defence Forces. That must not happen because failure to deal with it has terrible consequences.
Those that commit or conceal abuse must be dealt with no matter what their position is or how well they are regarded and / or connected politically. To do otherwise is not acceptable.
DannyS:
Yes they most definitely do, but no it isn't.
Who is worse, the murderer or the family member who gives them money to make their escape?
DT:
ScottBE:
Harry:
I would think in those un-enlightened times Newcastle state schools, sporting clubs swimming clubs, hospitals would likewise have been fertile grounds for child sexual abuse. No?
You see what I don't get about our "new enlightened times" is the focus is too narrow.
Every night we're watching grim newsreaders tut-tutting a British Court sexual abuse case case of an 80 years old.... a child of 1960's sex revolution....so where are all the other rock band hippie druggies 60's rock and roll groupie victims?
Answer: No interested in victims! Just tall poppies, saucy police corruptions and a juicy story that bashes 'officials'.
God help us if today if these are enlightened times.
whogoesthere:
Miowarra:
Every investigation must gave a focus.
Why the Catholic Church?
Because they've been shown to be the greatest offenders over the longest time period and regular investigations have finally encouraged victims to have some hope of redress.
Remember that they were still castrating unwilling boys for their choirs until the early 19thC, too.
However, that sect hasn't been the only 'focus".
Remember that the Anglicans faced up to their responsibilities (except for Gov-Gen Hollingsworth). The Salvos have admitted their faults and have cleaned out their house as also have the Scouts and YMCA.
Of the secular institutions, Parramatta Girls Home, the RAN and ADFA have been and are still undergoing their own cleansing.
Tell me again where this "narrowness of focus" might be, please.
Of what has been alleged in the UK, Saville was not able to defend himself in court against his attackers who have had an unopposed opportunity to drag his name through the sensationalist newspapers of filth and for the rest, let's wait until the court delivers a verdict.
Ann:
I think people need to realise that when you have ANY organisation that has a power structure, you create the opportunity for that power to be abused. Obviously when children are involved that abuse will be worse.
This means any organisation needs transparency, the ability for anonymous whistleblowing, and as much as possible, a vertical power structure.
It doesn't matter what the org is based around or what it does - some people will always abuse power if it is given to them, especially over the vulnerable like children.
Don't pretend that by getting rid of "backwards" groups like churches that all orgs will be cleansed of abuses. They'll keep happening as long as we don't keep our eye on them.
Mitor the Bold:
A secular organisation is transparent, in theory at least. The catholic church is opaque and is fighting to remain that way. Priests have fought and won the right to keep crimes to themselves if learned in confession. In other words, the church is fighting to protect the problem rather than solve it - this is why it is so reluctant to admit culpability as an organisation. Comparing the church to a scout hall is playing into their hands.
The internal church 'Towards Healing' process for examining crimes against children should be dismantled immediately - would you allow a scout master to investigate a claim of child abuse in the scouts? Then why allow a church with a history of both abuse and cover-up to do it? There's only one reason they want to keep it internal and it's the same reason today as it was in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990's, 2000s etc.
Kerrie:
The aim of the program was for the victim to find some kind of healing. In the best instances the mediation would result in the victim of abuse finally understanding, through dialogue with senior clerics, why they were chosen and why the Church did nothing. The understanding and apology were as important as the reimbursement for damages caused by the abuse. I've heard that some victims dislike the compensation aspect because it makes them feel like they are putting a price on their abuse. I suppose it makes them feel like they have prostituted themselves, but I'm just guessing. In the worst mediations, the process degenerated into an informal negotiation of the victim's payout amount. The unstated bias of the mediator was an additional problem.
The Catholic Church and many organisations have been culpable in hiding the truth. Other posters have questioned why the Catholic Church and other religious organisations are allowed to continue. Part of the problem is that these organisations do the welfare work that the State misses. When Ireland didn't have a program for unmarked mothers, the Catholic Church stepped in. When South Australia didn't have public education for poor people, the Catholic Church stepped in. When the Australian government doesn't give people enough money to live on, St Vincent De Paul step in.
If you want more transparency and less religious involvement in welfare programs then the government and non-religious organisations have to do more heavy lifting. In short stop giving religious organisations things to do (eg the treatment of boat-travelling refugees and insane budget cuts).
I should point out that I think the Chaplaincy program is wrong and irrational in public schools.
Bazza:
Again, this isn't about the fact that some priests molested children - it's about the fact that the entire church power structure continually protected them from any fall out just to save their own precious organization's reputation. This should be neither forgiven or forgotten and should lead to us cutting back on power and influence of all churches - a first step is to tax them properly, the accountability that brings would shine a light into their illegal activities.
A second, and obvious step, is to stop channeling government funds to the church's purposes - no chaplains unless they want to pay for them out of their own massive hoard of cash, it'd be less money to hide child molesters from the law with.
Note - this applies to all "faith" based organizations - not just the Catholic church, all of them have tawdry histories and don't respect the rights of women or children.
Miowarra:
You're conflating two separate issues, Ann.
There _are_ "calls" to unravel the links between faith-based organisations and the public purse as well as "calls" for such to be completely disassociated from anything to do with children, but I've never seen any such calls to dismantle any of them completely.
The reasons are that, for the social value of the community work they do, the social COST (both monetary and in the propagation of untruth as fact) is too high.
"Schools, government orgs and other institutions" are subject to levels of public scrutiny and control which the faith-based organisations are not. We've seen in so many other aspects of our modern life that self-regulation just doesn't work.
External oversight is essential if we want to eliminate those abuses of power of which you spoke.
Government can do that but the churches have demonstrated that they can't be trusted to adhere to community standards or report criminal behaviour by its agents to the civil authorities..
RobP:
Miss Information:
chris:
So the media needs to get onto the real story, i.e. schools. That is what the Royal Commission will be hammering home when it reports.
The Royal Commission if anything will be a salutary lesson that the Catholic Church cannot be singled out as it has been for too long now.
kolbe:
Lady Cecilia Longbottom:
If there's coercion involved it might be "abuse" but otherwise schools (and helicopter parents) need to stand back and let them learn by doing.
The schools are placed in an invidious position because they're "mandatory reporters" so any sexual activity is reported and the media (and apparently yourself) are happy to lump every instance into one basket call it all "abuse".
You don't "jump up and scream" about other physical learning activities, throwing and catching a ball for example. Why do so just because it's about sexual matters?
So, to answer your initial question, there's a lack of reference or response to the reports because there's nothing new or horrible about what's being reported, only the usual distortion of reportage.
D R Frenkel:
AJS:
Yes - that's because he was shown in the Royal Commission to be wrong
What happened inside Police Command. What hasn't come out?
All the information did come out and it concluded there was no case to answer.
The independent umpire has spoken, read the decision
Science-Lover:
Makes me wonder, anyway!
GrumpiSkeptic:
Why those dirty old men were allowed to carry on in such manners? I often asked myself. Where is the spiritual meaning in all these? Where is God? Who is in charge? Where is the goodness in these bastards ?
Then it took one courageous amigo named Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox to come out and blew the whistle on the establishments. According to him, the cops and the religious mobs were getting too close for comfort. I thought perhaps that is why many serious cases of child abuse never got the spot light shone on them.
Then, thanks to Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox, and Ms. Joanne McCarthy, a Royal Commission was set up, many years too late I believe.
It came as a real shock to me when I learned that Peter Fox copped some blames for being "overly zealous" ! For goodness sake, wasn't it because of his pit-bull like attitudes to finally bring about the inquiries?
So now he is a tarnished figure ? As I suspected, something is going on between all the establishments, the cops, the churches, and those with "blind faith" placed on them, believing that they will always do the right thing by the vulnerable folks. How wrong ?
Ann:
Unfortunately we only now seem to be entering into an era where we don't dismiss children's experiences and tales out of hand or discomfort.
Going forward I think more states need laws on the books that punish people who know about abuse and don't come forward with it.
Both in situations with children and in the armed forces, where abuse also seems to be rife.
Bazza:
We'd burn the lot of them to the ground.
Sally:
AJS:
It seems now in the light of the findings that they had good reason.
The trouble with loose cannons is they go off in all the wrong directions and rarely hit the intended target.
And then there are those that follow them - writing articles and gathering awards without really asking their source to substantiate their claims.
Like Mr Fox, I think the Walkley has had its reputation tarnished a little as well
Curious one:
blixen:
Your courage and Peter Fox's too, brought about this Special Commission.
You have been vindicated, both of you.
And I fully support Fox's allegation of a Church-Police "Catholic mafia", whose object was to suppress public knowledge of priests abusing minors, for the sake of the good name of the Church.
The Church is a good business, like leeches preying on the gullible public.
If the truth came out and was generally known in the community, the donations might dry up.
Jesus said, speaking about the Pharisees:
"You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good?..." Matthew 12:34
But I don't see much improving actually. There are so many stupid people out there, just so driven to worship anything, like these puffed up abusers in their red cassocks and gold head gear. There's one born every minute, as they saying goes.
And the Church, Roman Catholic as well as Anglican, is so so powerful. It is almost that no-one has the power or will to hold them to account.
mike fitzgerald:
However, please refrain from using images of Jesus and Mary in your articles.ntheynhave NOTHIHG TO DO WITH the behaviour of paedophiles or the church, sadly!
Nina:
Adults need to take critical control of where they and their children are and with whom and to make sure the people they are with are transparent.
Often embarrassment and religious scaremongering fend of intelligent scrutiny, true transparency welcomes scrutiny. We are pressured to dump kids and race off to work that our lives are at stake if we are late whilst brushing aside the tantrums and reluctance that are our children's alarm bells.
SteveS:
Along came Peter Fox and Joanne McCarthy, two people who made "game-changing" decisions, two people for whom those who suffered so much, now owe so much, but a debt, those two will never seek to exploit.
Margaret Cuneen's report represents no 'catharsis" for me, I wonder if it does for other Catholic people. Her determinations leave more questions unanswered than answered and it smacks of an attempt to protect, rather than expose. Fox is the scapegoat, McCarthy, well she has to be contained and the fallout has to be controlled.
Sad to think that already, this is a "no news" item, relegated to obscurity, lost somewhere in the 24 hours news cycle.
The latest news from Ireland; how can this be. What is it, more than 600 young children dead, their bodies disposed of in a septic tank. Children aged from infancy to 6 years. Their crime; they were born to unmarried women/girls and under "conservative" Catholic teaching/dogma, as a child born to parents in an unmarried relationship, the child could not be baptised, and in death, it could not be buried in consecrated ground.
I have lived a long time, but never have I felt more saddened for the life of a child than I do having read this report. To those who perpetrated such injustice, I have nothing but utter contempt, and for a "church" to cultivate such doctrine, I simply ask; how could you?.
So many questions, so few answers, how can any one believe in religion and the sanctity of life of the individual when one reads of these atrocities.
I am ashamed, I am disgusted, I feel a great burden of weight for believing in an institution that I thought had relevance in my life. I feel the Catholic Church is demonstrably damaged and in becoming that, it has irrevocably recalibrated my own and I expect, many other peoples faith as well.
For the God that they believe in, may he have pity on them.
John S.:
If I say that every occupation do has someone doing completely reverse stuff, like the government make use of people instead of providing service, it is just trying to justify the acts talking here. I really felt said to every accident no matter who committed it. But I am also somehow became anesthetic because people around the cities, always doing what we are supposed not to do.
Corbachov:
The local archdiocese know exactly what to do, and so they pour a new concrete slab and say a prayer. It will be a further 20 years before the pit is exumed, revealing the bodies of 798 children aged between 6 days and 5 years.
This shocking, yet true story tells you everything you need to know about the catholic church and their ability to accept responsibility for their crimes.
This dreadful organisation has long since lost it's last right to public respect. It should and must be dismantled by the state in response to the systematic child rape that they have enabled, carried out and shamelessly covered up.
I have seen what they have gotten away with in Ireland and Australia, countries with fully developed legal and judicial systems.
I go to bed each night and shiver with the thought of what they have likely done and continue to do in places like Thailand, Peru, Cambodia and the many other countries where they operate without the oversight of such institutions.
JohnnoH:
Alice:
Avargo:
Rather than out them for their vile abusive behaviour and have them gone form their group.
What it says to me about these groups, is that they have no respect or empathy for their children.
They have no care or any idea of consideration for the future of their organisation, which of course is the children they allow to be defiled and abused.
And it is " allow ". Because by not casting out the paedophiles the organisation is allowing and condoning that behaviour.
And by trying to shift the focus of media attention away from the heart of the issues is just another example of the corrupt form of thinking that is prevalent within these organisations.
Shame on them all.
IB:
maj:
Can someone inform me of the proportional amount of abuse that occurs within 'the family'?
It must be very insignificant given that no one is sharing those family experiences.
And I applaud the scientific conclusion, repeated here, that if we all hold hands and think nice thoughts the heads of all those religious god bothers will explode in heavenly retribution and humanity will be saved from this evil forever and ever.
Besides, what point is there in holding a royal commission into the abuse occurring in families? We all know that just doesn't happen. We know the real villain is over there...not in here. Not in families.
Big M:
markt:
You people make me feel ashamed to be human.
Frank O'Connor:
Ergo: It was a political cover up for police and child protection authorities in NSW.
The facts remain that:
1. Egregious child molestation and other criminal activities occurred for years in NSW without any of the responsible authorities either bringing it to a halt or investigating it.
2. It was only after Peter Fox and the media got the light of publicity shone of the issue that the problem came out.
3. Every subsequent enquiry and commission federally and across the states has revealed that child molestation, child abuse and cruelty to children was the rule rather than the exception in state, religious and public benevolent institutions for many many decades. Thousands of children were abused across Australia ... and the authorities (who have now been so conveniently exonerated) did absolutely nothing.
4. None of these enquiries would have even gotten off the ground without whistle blowers like Peter Fox.
My contempt for this NSW exercise in justifying the neglect and incompetence of their authorities is therefore beyond measure.
Pity the compliant media didn't take the time to examine the report more sceptically ... but there are so few media outlets with principle and conviction left nowadays.
Lets see what they do when the Royal Commission and Vicorian reports get released.
It may be a vain hope, but I'd really like to see some integrity and backbone in our Fourth Estate.
Emo:
Bazza:
As it is we're giving them a free ride to become the largest land owners as well as acting as a brothel for child molesters. By making them accountable on the fiscal level at least then we can tell just how much official sanction and protection is being given to those who ignore Australian law and damage Australian children.
Also get the chaplains out of the schools - no excuse for them to be there whatsoever.
Paul Williams:
In the past, we trusted no-one, and women were guarded and chaperoned. There was little doubt concerning the intentions of the male sex at large.
As I entered a Christian Brothers' boarding school to try the religious life in my last 2 years of school, I feel comfortable saying that these 15 year olds were high-minded. It wasn't the life for me, as celibacy was so daunting.
It is my belief that some of these young men, having committed to this life (under considerable pressure of various sorts) lost their religious faith, but were unable to return to their families - the tenor of the times in the wider Catholic community declared such people to be "failed religious" and they were a shame to their families (though this was denied). Trapped in a sterile life without the consolation of religious faith, some turned to perverted sex- with the vulnerable. The drive of the Catholic Church to recruit people to the priesthood and the other clergy should not be under-estimated...and the drive to keep them there, no matter what.
Yes, as one of the boys I was at that school with, and who was himself a victim with a tragic story http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/4978017
said, "when all this comes out, as it will, it will hurt many good people, but it will not surprise them, because they have always known."
I wrote a short (22K) memoir called "My Two Years with God, or How I lost my Vocation."
My colleague's book was 70K and was called "With God behind the eight-ball."
I agree that the crime was greater because of the unbelievable betrayal of trust.
As for the current governmental Catholics, I am ashamed but also puzzled with their support of the Chaplaincy program, which seems to be more Protestant in tone - I agree it has no place in state schools.
Talismancer:
Emotional wreck:
Nobody has fallen on their sword for that institutional crime!
ij:
Bikie gangs have been outlawed for less.
Factsseeker:
Scott:
Breach of peace:
alan stone:
Just get in there and fix it:
What they do is inaugurate a new body to look into the problem (eg, the Church's Toward Healing program and the Defence Force's DART). Give it a catchy name or acronym and promise that everything possible is being done. While this is going on, run a parallel agenda where the principals are fulfilling their career ambitions, at the expense of the taxpayer, and not much is really being done so that the job can be handed over to the next one in the pecking order, who is then said to bring "excellent credentials" to the job and who in turn says what a great job his predecessor did. All the while, glacial progress is being made which is beautifully calibrated to the career desires of the principals of the body.
Re the accusations of rape in the Defence Forces, isn't it just a straightforward case of running a criminal investigation into the problem? Like, stop farting around with process and just get in there with some DIRECT ACTION, like Tony has pontificated about in relation to the mitigation of greenhouse gases.
octavio:
blax5:
Mel:
Time for Australia to achieve enlightenment
RobP:
If the dog has got fleas, liberally apply the flea powder. No need to kill the dog.
Talismancer:
In terms of long term damage, the Catholic Church takes the cake. It's time for them to go. That simple.
awake:
Why only 76 comments while there are 100s for and against Abbott and Shorten.
Where are the priorities?????