Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities begins: ‘It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.’ If we take St Paul seriously, the worst of times can be the best of times for Christians. In his biblical account of faith, he sees adversity, trial, rejection and hardship as the nodal points Read more
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
The Deputy Children’s Commissioner Sue Berelowitz, in her study of sexual exploitation by urban gangs found that the “use and impact” of pornography was a major factor in 48 percent of interviews with abuse victims and perpetrators. The highly easy access of porn online skewed young people’s views about what is “acceptable, required or expected” Read more
A former St John of God brother who was jailed in New Zealand for sexual abuse has now moved to Sri Lanka after Australian authorities laid hundreds of new charges against him. Fairfax Media in Australia reported that Bernard Kevin McGrath flew out of Christchurch a few months ago, some time after 252 abuse charges Read more
The sexual abuse of children in the Catholic Church represents so much sinfulness that it seems to drive home Jesus’ point: by their fruits you shall know them. Australian Catholics are going to face very difficult questions as this Royal Commission conducts its work: What do we really know of our Church? How can we 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
Fr Oliver Brennan will never forget the morning of August 14, 2010. It was to the beginning of a personal hell that saw him uprooted from the parish community he loved and feeling alienated and unable to exercise his priestly ministry. After decades in the priesthood he now stood accused of abuse. It is a harrowing Read more
Research shows that sexual abuse is more likely to occur in (and be ignored by) particular kinds of institutional cultures. In particular, male-dominated organisations that lack oversight and accountability can harbour a “barrack-yard” culture that promotes physical and sexual abuse. As Marie Keenan indicates in her 2012 book Child Sexual Abuse and the Catholic Church, Read more