By Denis Hart
Herald Sun
November 10, 2010
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ipad-application/concealing-sex-abuse-a-grave-evil/story-fn6bn88w-1225950396540
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| Reinforcing faith: victims are offered aid, consolation and reconciliation with the church. |
I WISH to respond on behalf of the Archdiocese of Melbourne, with specific reference to Alan Howe's Opinion article, "Hell - who's joining me?" in Monday's edition of the Herald Sun.
The damage caused to the Foster family by Kevin O'Donnell, followed by the heroin addiction and suicide of Emma and a tragic traffic accident involving Katherine, is a very sad example of human tragedy and suffering.
As Archbishop, I deeply regret the terrible crimes committed by Catholic clergy. I fully recognise that in the past the church has not always dealt appropriately with offenders.
I cannot comment on how this tragic case was handled in the early stages because I was not involved. I was, however, the vicar general when George Pell was archbishop when
this case was fully investigated by the independent commissioner. I therefore had some knowledge of it.
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I know that we offered, and provided, much support including counselling, treatment, in-patient detox, etc. It is tragic for Emma, and for her family, that ultimately she could not be saved but we tried to do everything
we could. This underlines the magnitude of O'Donnell's sins.
In my "pastoral letter of sexual abuse" published this year, I emphasised that sexual abuse in any form, and any attempt to conceal it, is a grave evil and is totally unacceptable. That the Foster family has had to endure such abuse causes me great personal sorrow.
I would like to repeat the sincere and unreserved apology I first offered to the Foster family in July 2008 as I do to all victims of sexual abuse.
In the Melbourne archdiocese we have sought to do everything in our power to bring sexual abuse victims aid, consolation and, if possible, reconciliation with the church.
They have been given access to compensation, continuing counselling and medical support. The Foster family has received significant support for many years.
Through Carelink, the Melbourne Response's professional support service, a very significant amount of counselling and medical treatment has been made available to the Foster family over 10 years.
Once again, I extend my sympathy to the Foster family for the suffering they have had to live with these past 20 years. One of the very sad effects of abuse is the difficulty of setting right the wrongs of the past, or taking away the suffering of victims of abuse and their families.
We have committed ourselves to working hard to prevent future abuse. Since 1996 we have introduced procedures to protect parishioners and children against sexual abuse and processes have been developed and applied to deal with offending clergy. I believe the Melbourne Response goes a long way towards addressing the issue of sexual abuse in the Melbourne archdiocese.
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