Emotional responses as Catholic Church representative faces community meeting over Royal Commission

By Larissa Romensky
ABC News
June 28, 2016

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-28/catholic-church-rep-meeting-bendigo/7550404

CEO of the Catholic Church's Truth, Justice and Healing Council, Francis Sullivan met with Bendigo locals as part of a "Spirituality in the Pub" event.

There were emotional reactions last night as a Catholic Church representative met with members of the Bendigo community to answer questions about the church's history of child sexual abuse.CEO of the Catholic Church's Truth, Justice and Healing Council, Francis Sullivan, was faced with a crowd of people with mixed emotions including pain and anger and said the depth of feeling was not over from one night's meeting.

Acknowledging it has taken a long time for church leaders to admit, acknowledge failure and ultimately lead in a responsible and moral way with regards to child sexual abuse, he said that at least with the Royal Commission "people [were] fronting up and telling the truth".

"This issue and the church's history is very confronting and shameful, and Catholics carry that shame whether they're practicing or grew up Catholic," he said.

He said there were many people in the room who found it personally upsetting.

"Unfortunately for most people they live these silent desperate lives, most people don't tell anyone," he said.

"There's so much anger and rage, and it goes deep.

Following the recommendation of the Royal Commission Mr Sullivan would like to see Catholics take responsibility for the Catholic Church.

"This isn't up to a bishop, this is up to the Catholic community saying we don't want our church behaving this way we want people to feel included," he said.

He said most people that had been abused usually asked for two things: to be believed and the need to belong in the community, not the Catholic Church.

"Like everybody else, not walking around with some label on their head," he said.

"The days of the Catholic Church investigating itself are over," Mr Sullivan said.

"No-one trusts the Catholic Church to look at itself and sort these things out and I think that's fair enough."

He said an independent scheme for redress and investigation was needed to make sure that standards were kept by institutions including the Catholic Church.

He said governments needed to "back that in".

"Really as a community we've got to force our political leaders into some action out of the recommendations that come from this Royal Commission," Mr Sullivan said.

He said the church would cooperate completely and fully with the recommendations of the Royal Commission and that ultimately, at its heart, the Catholic Church wanted to see the "good and the truth".

Mr Sullivan said following the Royal Commission's recommendations he said the next question to understand was why child sexual abuse occurred across so many institutions, including the Catholic Church.

He said the big benefit for the Royal Commission was not only letting people tell their story, but for the commissioners to make recommendations.

"What type of administrative changes, what type of legal changes, what type of compliance will be required in organisations to make them safe places," Mr Sullivan said.

"That's where we'll get the benefit and that's why institutions like the Catholic Church need to take it straight on the chin,"

He said the church would cooperate completely and fully provide any necessary documents.

When asked how he felt about Catholic priests who had committed acts of child sexual abuse Mr Sullivan described them as people who were ill who have done "despicable things" resulting in a "whole cocktail" of a miserable experience.

"Of course your heart goes out to people in this situation, whether they're perpetrators or victims, the trouble is dividing up the sympathy sounds like your taking sides," he said.

He acknowledged the first part was letting victims of abuse the dignity of telling their story without interruption, without commentary and without the might of the Catholic Church trying to come in and justify itself.

He hinted that part of the next process was about forgiveness of the perpetrators.

"At some point in the future another part of the scenario needs to be addressed, but for now it's about letting people who have been abused have centre stage," Mr Sullivan said.

Francis Sullivan spoke to ABC Central Victoria's Breakfast program.