AUSTRALIA
ABC News
By Larissa Romensky
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”.
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.
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