Church rejects changes
THE Catholic Church has rejected key recommendations by the child abuse royal commission that would force it to turn its back on centuries of tradition.
Among 189 recommendations in the final report of the Royal Commission into Instituional Responses to Child Sexual Assault, published today, 58 were directed at religious institutions.
They included recommendations that the Catholic Church introduce voluntary celibacy and new laws that would require priests to report abuse told to them during confession.
Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart said the seal of confession was non negotiable and could never be broken. He also rejected the idea of voluntary celibacy but said the recommendations would be put to the Holy See for consideration.
Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher said changing rules around confession would not prevent future child sex abuse.
“Killing off confession is not going to help anybody,” he said.
“This Catholic and Orthodox practice is always entirely confidential and I think any proposal to effectively stop the practice of confession in Australia would be a real hurt to all Catholics and Orthodox Christians and I don’t think would help any young person.
“If young people are to be kept safe, focusing on something like confession is just a distraction.”
He also rejected the idea of voluntary celibacy.
“We know very well that institutions who have celibate clergy and institutions that don’t have celibate clergy both face this problem ... It is an issue for everyone, celibate or not.”
The commission made more recommendations to the Catholic Church than any other religious body after finding the greatest number of alleged perpetrators and abused children were in Catholic institutions.
It also called on laws that prohibit some Orthodox Jews from reporting abuse.
The final report was delivered to Governor General Sir Peter Cosgrove yesterday be- fore it was tabled in Parliament and made available online.
It has called on a national strategy to combat future child sex abuse.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced he would establish a taskforce to consider and co-ordinate action on the recommendations and track the progress made by all Australian governments.
The taskforce will operate for two years from January with the government set to respond in full to the recommendations next year.
Mr Turnbull also announced a $52.1 million package for victims to access redress from a national scheme.
The commission’s 189 recommendations bring to 409 the total number it has made.
Among them the commission has called for the establishment of a National Office for Child Safety, a new federal minister responsible for mitigating risks of abuse, and a national website to report child abuse.
It also wants abusers stripped of any honours and a national memorial to recognise the tens of thousands of children sexually abused in more than 4000 Australian institutions.
“The Final Report tells the story of institutional child sexual abuse in Australia, and provides recommendations to shape a safer future for children,” commission CEO Phillip Reed said.
“We have now completed our work. It’s up to governments and institutions to take the next steps and implement the Royal Commission’s recommendations.”
Prefacing the 17 volume final report the commission said the recommendations were key to ensuring the future safety of all children.
“We must each resolve that we will do what we can to protect them,” it said.