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	Pressure Mounting for a Proper Apology from the Pope to Australian Victims Broken Rites Australia Helps Survivors of Church-Related Broken Rites June 25, 2008 http://brokenrites.alphalink.com.au/nletter/page40-world-youth-day.html In June 2008, a month before the Pope was due to visit Australia, Broken Rites Australia asked the Vatican to arrange for a deputation of Australian church sex-abuse survivors to have a meeting with the Pope in Sydney. Broken Rites made the request in a letter, dated 7 June 2008, sent to the Vatican's representative in Canberra, Papal Nuncio Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto. Archbishop Lazzarotto replied to Broken Rites, in a letter dated 16 June 2008, saying: "I thank you for your letter dated 7 June, and I would like to assure you that the issue you raised in your letter has already been presented to the attention and consideration of the competent office of the Holy See." Broken Rites has noticed that some Australian church people expect that the Pope "might" mention his regret for church-abuse in one of his speeches but Broken Rites wants some survivors to be present to witness the apology. Victims will not be satisfied by a brief, or evasive, reference to sexual abuse without victims being present. Early in 2008, indigenous Australians were invited to federal Parliament House for s special day to witness Prime Minister Kevin Rudd saying 'Sorry' to the stolen generations. In June 2008, survivors of orphanages were invited to South Australia's Parliament House to witness Premier Mike Rann apologising to state wards who were sexually abused. Also, in mid-2008, the Canadian Parliament gave an apology in the presence of indigenous Canadians. Broken Rites believes that, likewise, a papal apology should be witnessed by a small group of church-abuse survivors, especially as the focus of the Pope's visit is on youth -- that is "World YOUTH Day". Broken Rites believes that the Pope must also promise that his Australian bishops will do more than they have done in the past to help church-abuse survivors. Many survivors are still aggrieved that they have received a poor response, or no response, from the church about their sexual abuse. On the same day that Archbishop Lazzarotto wrote to Broken Rites (16 June 2008), the organisers of World Youth Day released the Pope's Sydney itinerary, and this program failed to mention an apology to sex-abuse survivors. Sydney conference In mid-2008, the forthcoming papal visit was drawing public attention to the issue of church sex-abuse. On June 20-21, a conference about religious-based sexual abuse was held in Sydney. Organised by the Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, the conference was attended by other professionals and academics from various disciplines, as well as by advocates (including representatives from Broken Rites) plus some individual victims/survivors. Professor Freda Briggs, emeritus professor of child development and a lecturer at the University of South Australia, gave a paper at the conference. In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, she said that churches were disregarding the habitual nature of sex offenders and were welcoming back convicted clergy. She said that perpetrators had been able to groom children for sexual abuse partly because naive and trusting parents had allowed priests to share the same room and even the same bed as their sons, and had been easily flattered when priests chose their sons as altar boys. "Some church leaders don't seem to realise that pedophilia is not akin to a traffic offence or even robbing a bank; he may have paid his debt to society according to law but that doesn't mean that he won't re-offend," Professor Briggs said. "There is no evidence to show that religion cures pedophilia -- to the contrary -- and the church's eagerness to following the teachings of Jesus and forgive offenders could prove to be yet another costly exercise placing it, and further children, at risk." Media articles As World Youth Day and the Pope's visit drew nearer, news items were popping up in the Australian media on the issue of "youth" in the Catholic Church. For example: The Melbourne "Sunday Herald Sun", on 22 June 2008 (country edition), reported that Christian Brother Robert Charles Best (who was convicted in Victoria in 1996 for child-abuse, committed in the 1970s) has been charged in June 2008 with additional child-abuse offences from the 1970s. See some background about Best here. The Sydney "Sun Herald", on Sunday 22 June 2008, reported that Father Ronald John McKeirnan (who was jailed in 1998 for child sex-abuse) is still being harbored in the Brisbane archdiocese. See some background about McKeirnan here. In Canberra on 23 June 2008, Marist Brother John William Chute (alias "Brother Kostka") was jailed for indecently touching numerous boys at a Canberra Catholic school, Marist College. See our story here. On 25 June 2008, as the Pope prepared to visit Australia for World Youth Day, an Australian former employee of the Vatican (Brother Rodger Moloney) was convicted for sexually abusing intellectually-handicapped youths. See our story here. Also in June 2008, Father Paul Raymond Evans (who was originally a priest in the Salesian order, working at the Boys Town residential school in Engadine, NSW) is currently before the Sydney District Court on child-sex charges. See more about Evans here. The youth who attend World Youth Day in Sydney in July 2008 will certainly have plenty to talk about.
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