Australia’s Catholic bishops are ready to step aside and let a special committee composed mainly of lay people, including some from outside the Church, handle sex abuse issues, according to the head of the national organisation for religious orders. “A committee is being formed — I don’t know all the details about it — but Read more
The Royal Commission into child sexual abuse in Australia can only be a good thing for the Catholic Church. It is a chance to account for the betrayal and crimes of priests and other church representatives who committed acts of abuse against the vulnerable, and for the careless, even callous way in which many church Read more
Politicians, pundits, and even a few dissenting Catholic clerics are calling upon Catholic priests to break the confessional seal in sex-abuse cases. Australian Federal Attorney General Nicola Roxon said that a federal commission investigating sexual abuse would take up the question of whether priests should be required to disclose information from sacramental confessions. Prime Minister Read more
As the controversy over the sexual abuse of children continues in Australia, politicians and editorial writers are calling for Catholic priests to be forced to break the seal of confession in sex-abuse cases. Independent Senator Nick Xenophon labeled the seal of confession an anachronism and told reporters: “This is a medieval law that needs to Read more
Cardinal George Pell of Sydney says priests should refuse to hear confessions from suspected child abusers to ensure they were not then bound by the confidentiality of the confessional. “If the priest knows beforehand about such a situation, the priest should refuse to hear the confession, that would be my advice. I would never hear Read more
The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard’s, decision to establish a royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse has received overwhelmingly public support. We know, on the available evidence, that the wide-ranging and expensive inquiry will focus on past crimes and whether people in authority, in Gillard’s terminology, ”averted their eyes” with respect to abusers. Read more
Responding to widespread pressure, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced a royal commission into institutional responses to sex abuse across the nation. Her decision followed new revelations about a Catholic religious order at a parliamentary inquiry in Victoria and the launching of a commission of inquiry into police handling of abuse by Catholic priests Read more
Cardinal George Pell has withdrawn his support from a Catholic college at Sydney University following revelations about dangerous initiation rituals, destructive behaviour and bullying. Cardinal Pell said he no longer had confidence that the council of St John’s College could reform life at the college. He asked the five remaining priests on the council to Read more
A growing number of people seem to believe that as long as you claim the label you are as good a Catholic as the Pope. Some decades ago when I was a priest in the country, I blessed many marriages and generally attended the wedding reception. As a priest my presence was acknowledged and welcomed. Read more
Two Australian dioceses have jointly commissioned an independent inquiry by former Federal Court judge Antony Whitlam, QC, into the way they handled a priest who admitted abusing children. The inquiry is in response to widespread media reports about the activities of a so-called Father F — which have also prompted calls for a royal commission Read more