Catholic Church unlikely to change, abuse review head Elizabeth Proust says

By Andrew West
ABC News
August 16, 2017

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-16/catholic-churchs-own-abuse-review-says-it-is-unlikely-to-change/8811764

In the 60 years between 1950 and 2010, there were 1,880 alleged perpetrators of abuse, including 572 priests.

Elizabeth Proust is concerned by the Church's reticence to change.

The senior Australian businesswoman appointed to supervise the Catholic Church's response to the sexual abuse crisis says she is "pessimistic" about the Church's willingness to reform.

Elizabeth Proust, the head of the Church's own Truth, Justice and Healing Council, fears the institution will emerge from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse only "partially cleansed and unreconstructed".

"I fear there's a view that once the royal commission reports, and the publicity around what will be a fairly dire report all dies down, that life will go back to what it was," Ms Proust told The Religion and Ethics Report.

"I hope I'm wrong. I'd like to think that the possibility for real transformation of the Church exists, but it's an institution that's been very slow to change on a whole range of issues."She wants the Church to establish permanent and independent protocols to deal with future cases of abuse.

"I don't see any sign that the lessons have been truly learned to the point where the institution of the Church is being questioned by those who've got the ability to change it," she said.

The Church leadership, she said, had not made a "heartfelt apology" for decades of sexual abuse by priests.

In February, the royal commission released data showing 4,444 people had made abuse allegations against the Church between 1980 and 2015.

In the 60 years between 1950 and 2010, there were 1,880 alleged perpetrators of abuse, including 572 priests.

A procession of archbishops, including Christopher Prowse of Canberra, Julian Porteous of Hobart, Timothy Costelloe of Perth and Mark Coleridge of Brisbane, have apologised, both at the royal commission and outside it.

But Ms Proust said vocal and influential groups within the Church appeared to be in denial about the depth of the scandal.

In an interview with The Weekend Australian in May, the leader of a group of conservative Catholic clergy, Father Glen Tattersall of Melbourne, criticised Francis Sullivan, chief executive officer of the Truth, Justice and Healing Council, calling him a "wannabe bishop".

Fr Tattersall also suggested the royal commission was a broader attack on the Church.

"I think people are quite angry about the way the Church has been dealt with," Fr Tattersall told the paper.

"They consider this has pretty much been a set up."

For Ms Proust, the comments were alarming because they undermined the need to reform Church structures and responses.

"I was quite disheartened by that article because it seemed to me that, at least for a number of the clergy, there's not really been any change and they really are waiting out the commission so that life can return to what it was," she said.

While the practice of training priests in their early teens — without the influence of, or social contact with, women — has long passed, Ms Proust believes the exclusively male leadership of the Church has damaged the confidence of ordinary Catholics.

About 60 per cent of mass-goers are women, according to the National Church Life Survey, yet the Catholic Church governance remains "medieval," Ms Proust said.

"Most institutions today, including in the private sector, where I work, have gone through very fundamental reforms," she said.

Her Council comprises mostly non-clergy, including medical professionals and a former judge, but it has no power to force the Church to change.

"Whether there's been real listening and real change, we'll probably need to wait and see until the response to the royal commission," Ms Proust said.

"But I remain pessimistic that the hierarchy, at least in this country, actually thinks there really is a role for lay people."