Church Culture Helped Child Sex Abuse Go Undetected, Anglican Archbishop Says

By Stuart Rintoul
The Australian
April 22, 2013

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/in-depth/church-culture-helped-child-sex-abuse-go-undetected-anglican-archbishop-says/story-fngburq5-1226625782038

Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne Dr Philip Freier has told Victoria's sex abuse inquiry that churches had a culture that allowed children's complaints to be ignored.

CHURCHES and community organisations had a culture that helped child sex abuse go undetected, Melbourne's Anglican archbishop has told an inquiry.

Dr Peter Freier has told Victoria's abuse inquiry it has records of 46 complaints against clergy and church workers and has paid out compensation of $268,000 in the past 10 years.

Dr Freier said historically there had been a culture that provided opportunities for people who wanted to breach the trust of children to do so and for children's complaints to be ignored.

"As you look backwards you can see broadly as a culture we've not readily listened to children when they've made complaints," Dr Freier told the inquiry.

"There have been opportunities for people who wanted to breach the trust of children to do that and often for children's accounts of that trust being broken, being disbelieved."

He said this was the case for many community organisations not just churches.

He said children were sometimes punished for having raised a question about the conduct of an adult.

Dr Freier said the church was unable to change the past, but strove "to have the most robust procedures in place so that the risk of harm to children is reduced as much as possible."

"We believe what Jesus says when he taught, 'The Truth will set you free', Archbishop Freier said in a prepared statement. "Public scrutiny is o be applauded when it brings shameful matters to light."

"I acknowledge that people's faith has been severely questioned and challenged during this process, which is to be expected in such circumstances. However, I want to give the assurance that there are good people doing good things to assist victims."

Dr Freier recalled "the chill of fear that I experienced when it was revealed that a teacher at my son's primary school - in another part of Australia - was a sexual predator of other boys in his class.

"I have listened to a victim of child sexual abuse in the church tell me how a predatory minister insinuated himself into the confidence of his family so that children of that family came to be entrusted to the predator's care and how this trust was betrayed and a vulnerable child abused."

Questioned by the parliamentary inquiry, the church's independent director of professional standards, Claire Sargent, said that of the 46 historic complaints in the church's files, 12 were reported to police, 20 were not and it was not clear what had happened in the remaining 14 cases. The vast majority of those cases involved clergy.

Ms Sargent said the church's policy was to always report current allegations of child sex abuse but not historic allegations.

"If someone has knowledge they are required to report that," Ms Sargent said.She said most cases were opportunistic, but in "a very few" cases a predator had abused a number of victims. She said that of five cases reported in the past several years, charges were laid in one case and dismissed in one case.

Dr Freier said it would be "a sensible thing" to make it a criminal offence to conceal abuse. He told the inquiry, "We would not want to be part of any conspiracy".

The Melbourne diocese has had procedures in place since 1994 to deal with sexual misconduct, its reporting and investigation.

Dr Freier said the church had strived to ensure all priests were made aware of their responsibilities but acknowledged in the past there had been gaps in the system.

"We've always had high expectations and I expect that as a culture, churches generally, and community organisations have not had the necessary checks and balances," Dr Freier said.

Dr Freier said cultural changes had occurred in the church and all ministers were now trained in their responsibilities and child safety before they were authorised to become ministers.

The parliamentary committee conducting the inquiry asked church representatives why record keeping on allegations of child abuse were less than adequate before the 1990s.

"I can't comment on why that might have been," Ms Sargent said.