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
The steps taken in the last 30 years to prevent the devastating trauma of child sexual abuse are making a difference. From 1990 to 2010, substantiated cases of child sexual abuse throughout the United States dropped 62 percent, according to experts David Finkelhor and Lisa Jones using a variety of sources including national surveys, FBI Read more
The Vatican cannot remove the papal knighthood granted to Jimmy Savile despite allegations the British TV star was a child sex predator. Last week, the Catholic Church of England wrote to the Holy See asking it to consider to posthumously remove the honour awarded to Savile because of the many recent child sex abuse allegations Read more
During the time of big Irish families in the pre-pill era, boys might be under less parental control than ought to be possible today when the Irish birth rate, although the highest in Europe, is a modest 2.1. So, it was not unusual for boys to get into trouble and be deemed dangers to society Read more
A parliamentary investigation into alleged cover-ups and failures to properly report child abuse by Church organizations in Australia opens today. Among recommendations that are put before the probe include a register for Church personnel and a program to monitor training for workers in religious groups. A parliamentary committee opens the hearing into the allegations after Read more
The Catholic Church in the Australian state of Victoria denied claims by police that it deliberately covered up paedophilia and talked victims out of reporting sex abuse. Church spokesman Father Shane Mackinlay said the church knew “bad decisions” were made in the past where accused priests had been given “treatment” and a “fresh start”. But Read more
Bishop Robert Finn is the first US Catholic bishop to be convicted of a misdemeanour for failing to report suspected child abuse. Finn, the Bishop of Kansas City – St Joseph, Missouri has been sentenced to two years probation and will not serve any jail time, nor pay a fine. The offence carried a maximum Read more
The U.S. Catholic bishops’ point man on sexual abuse, Bishop R. Daniel Conlon of Joliet, paints a gloomy picture of the Church’s handling of sexual abuse, saying the church’s credibility is “shredded”. Conlon compared the situation to the Reformation, when “the episcopacy, the regular clergy, even the papacy were discredited.” Bishop Conlon last month told a conference of Read more