Child Abuse Royal Commission: Don’t Just Target Catholic Church

By Gerard Henderson
The Australian
February 3, 2017

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On Monday, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will commence three weeks of public hearings concerning Case Study 50. This involves an inquiry into the policies and procedures of Catholic Church authorities in relation to child protection and child safety standards, including responding to allegations of child sexual abuse. It is a rare occasion in a democracy when a state-funded institution inquires into a church.

Royal commission chairman Peter McClellan has made it clear that his focus will include an analysis of factors that may have contributed to the occurrence of child sexual abuse at Catholic institutions in Australia.

The royal commission’s Issues Paper 11, which relates to what it terms the “Catholic Church Final Hearing” inquiry, invited submissions involving such matters as canon law, clericalism and the operation of the sacrament of confession. Clearly the royal commission does not intend to uphold any division between church and state in this instance.

Evidence before the royal commission suggests that the crime of child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church was at its peak between the 1960s and early 90s. The offenders were exclusively male priests and brothers and their victims were overwhelmingly boys.