Editorial: the Long Silence Is Broken

The Newcastle Herald
August 1, 2013

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/1678505/editorial-the-long-silence-is-broken/?cs=308

CONSIDERING its relatively narrow terms of reference, the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry into alleged cover-up of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church has achieved much of value, even before its findings have been handed down.

The commission was set up by the O'Farrell government to investigate explosive allegations, by Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox, of obstruction to police investigations of abuse by priests over many years.

But it has managed to illuminate much more than that specific issue, extracting unprecedented admissions and some surprising pieces of evidence from church figures, including some who had held very senior roles.

It is important to remember that the commission was established before the then prime minister, Julia Gillard, announced a full federal Royal Commission into the much broader issue of sexual abuse across a wide spectrum of organisations.

In some respects, that has meant that the NSW Special Commission has been a scene-setter for the much bigger national inquiry that is still to come.

It is likely that its value in that regard will be seen and appreciated in the months ahead.

One of the great benefits of the Special Commission has been its function as a focal point for many people who had been energised and encouraged into action by award-winning Newcastle Herald journalist Joanne McCarthy, whose efforts spearheaded this newspaper's Shine the Light campaign.

Victims of abusive priests were offered a precious platform from which some of their heart-rending stories could finally be told. And a shocked public was given the chance to hear these grim statements in the same legal forum where church representatives attempted to explain their own views and decisions.

It is perhaps fitting that the commission finished taking evidence on the same day as one of the church's most notorious and destructive monsters, former priest John Denham, was sentenced for another black litany of sex crimes.

These are milestones on an agonising journey to expose a great evil. They symbolise the fact that a long silence has been irrevocably broken, the downtrodden have found their voices and those who felt themselves beyond the reach of human justice have been caught, at last, in the light.

The dark, secretive world in which their crimes were able to flourish and multiply has gone forever. Much truth has now been told, with much more yet to come.