Church child abuse discussions in Bendigo

By Adam Holmes
Bendigo Advertiser
June 26, 2016

http://www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au/story/3991708/church-child-abuse-discussions-in-bendigo/

Francis Sullivan, the CEO of the Catholic Church's Truth Justice and Healing Council, will answer questions in Bendigo on Monday night.

THE Catholic Church will meet with members of the Bendigo community on Monday night to answer questions about the church’s history of child sexual abuse.The chief executive officer of the church’s Truth Justice and Healing Council, Francis Sullivan, will hold a “Spirituality in the Pub” event at the Queens Arms Hotel in Quarry Hill.The sessions will help form the Catholic Church’s response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.Mr Sullivan said hearing the concerns of parishioners and the wider community was an important step in the healing process.“It is always encouraging to come to community meetings such as this one and hear how ordinary people on the streets and in the pews are responding to the Royal Commission and to the changes being made in the church,” he said.“The Catholic Church has an appalling history of child sexual abuse in its parishes, its schools and other places.

“While much has been done over the past three years and major changes have taken place to the way in which church leaders respond to child sexual abuse claims since the mid-1990s more needs to be done.”

The session will outline the new initiatives being put in place by the church in the last three years, including a national independent redress scheme for abuse survivors, and new structures to monitor and report on child safety standards.

The Catholic Church established the Truth Justice and Healing Council in early 2013 to oversee the church’s engagement with the royal commission.

The council has released a number of reports, including one in 2014 which publicly names obligatory celibacy and clericalism as two possible aspects of church practice that could have contributed to the sexual abuse of children.

It was believed to be the first church report in the world to publicly question celibacy.

Spirituality in the Pub will begin at 7.30pm, or 6pm for those wanting meals, at the Queens Arms Hotel, at 23 Russell Street, Quarry Hill.