Church "Not the Problem, Institutions Are"

Daily Telegraph
November 14, 2012

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/breaking-news/church-not-the-problem-institutions-are/story-e6freuz0-1226516481557

FEDERAL Attorney-General Nicola Roxon says the debate surrounding Catholic priests who admit to pedophilia in confession points to the failure of institutions and not religion.

Australia's most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, on Tuesday told reporters "the Seal of Confession is inviolable" even if a priest confesses to child sex abuse.

Ms Roxon described the situation as unacceptable.

"No one thinks it's acceptable that if you knew about a crime of child abuse, that you would not protect the child, let alone report the matter to police," Ms Roxon told ABC radio on Wednesday.

She said the federal government's royal commission into child abuse would look beyond religion.

"This is about - unfortunately - not just child abuse, but many adults and institutions that look the other way, or let children down when they raise these issues."

Ms Roxon said a lot of the allegations weren't about things that the Church or others knew because of something said in the confessional.

"They're actually about things that have happened in institutions, or churches, or elsewhere."

She said it appeared many alleged cases of child sex abuse involved adults' collective failure to stop the abuse.

"They don't turn on whether something was said in confessional.

"They turn on whether we had all sorts of institutional acceptance or ignorance, or turning a blind eye what was traumatising many, many children across the country."

The attorney-general is working with her state counterparts to outline the scale and scope of the commission, which Ms Roxon says will also determine how Australia can improve the way it prevents child abuse.

Ms Roxon also reiterated Prime Minister Julia Gillard's argument that imposing a timeline on the commission would be counterproductive.

"We need to do it properly ... to make sure we're not putting more constraints than are necessary," she said.