AUSTRALIA
Catholic News
Bishop Michael Malone has announced that the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle will establish a diocesan-wide child protection unit that will address the problem that there are many agencies, groups and individuals with different needs and varying resources.
“The area of child protection is extremely complex,” Bishop Malone told the Aurora diocesan newspaper, “and the effects of child protection issues are far-reaching.
“I am very conscious that there is a need to develop and preserve high levels of trust in all of our dealings with children. It’s one of the fundamentals of the church’s mission; it affects all areas.”
Bishop Malone acknowledged that breaches of trust on the part of individuals have a devastating effect on victims, families and communities and have set back the mission of the church immeasurably.