Leading Nsw Welfare Worker to Advise Pope on Child Protection

By Emily Laurence
ABC News
December 18, 2014

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-18/vatican-appoints-leading-nsw-welfare-worker-to-child-protection/5977298

PHOTO: Cath McCormack will travel to the Vatican twice a year to work on a commission which will advise Pope Francis on child sexual abuse. (ABC: Justin Huntsdale)

A leading New South Wales welfare worker will advise Pope Francis on safeguarding children from sexual abuse.

The founding director of CatholicCare in the city of Wollongong, Kathleen McCormack, has been appointed to the Vatican's child protection commission.

Ms McCormack provides support to victims of child sexual abuse in the Wollongong Diocese and helps shape child protection protocols in Australia.

She said she hoped to impress upon the commission the importance that victims of sexual abuse should be believed.

"When you work with a survivor of abuse the first thing you do is when they have the courage to speak out, you believe them, and I think that's where we have to start," Ms McCormack said.

"We've got to make sure that it doesn't continue, that we have best practice in place for the future," she said

"That's been part of the isolation of it. They were not believed."

Pope Francis 'genuine' in trying to reform church

The 17-member Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors was announced in December last year.

It included two survivors of child sexual abuse within the church, it will include men and women and will also feature both clerical and lay people from multiple countries.

Some victims' groups have been sceptical of the Vatican-established commission, and Ms McCormack said she understood why this was the case.

"I think they've got a right to be because of how things have been done in the past but I think it's the future we've got to look to," Ms McCormack said.

"The proof will be in what's produced and I just think with the nature of some of the people on this committee and their background and experience, I don't think they would be one to be pushed over."

But Ms McCormack said she believed Pope Francis' commission was a genuine attempt to hear voices from around the world calling for reform.

"Just the number of people on this committee and the fact that he's prepared to do it, it's never happened before and I think he's stepped out of his comfort zone and is prepared to do it," Ms McCormack said.

"I think with our experience of the Royal Commission here in Australia, as hard as it has been, it's been one of the best things that's ever happened for the survivors."

Ms McCormack's appointment is for three years.

She will be required to attend two meetings a year in Rome.