Melbourne Archbishop commits to protecting confessional, as Pope begs forgiveness for abuse

By Danny Tran And James Oaten
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
August 22, 2018

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-22/melbourne-archbishop-commit-protect-confession-pope-beg-forgive/10149358

Bishops are still "dragging their feet" over the child sexual abuse Royal Commission, a survivor says.

Pope Francis has addressed Catholics across the world, begging for forgiveness.

Two of Chrissie Foster's daughters were abused by a paedophile priest.

Emma (left) and Katie (right) were abused by Father Kevin O'Donnell at primary school.

Paul Collins, a Catholic historian and former priest, says Pope Francis must tackle abuse within the church.

Melbourne's new Archbishop Peter Comensoli has told parishioners he is "strongly committed" to reporting sexual abuse within the Church, but also wants to "uphold the seal of confession".

The comments come days after the Pope wrote an open letter to Catholics apologising for abuse within the church.

The letter, penned by the Supreme Pontiff and addressed to all Catholics, begged forgiveness for abandoning the vulnerable and protecting the powerful, and was written in response to devastating allegations of misconduct by the church in the United States.

"We showed no care for the little ones, we abandoned them," Pope Francis wrote.

"The heart-wrenching pain of these victims, which cries out to heaven, was long ignored, kept quiet or silenced."

In a letter to his congregation, Archbishop Comensoli said no apology would ever be enough.

He said the Archdiocese had signed up to the national redress scheme for abuse survivors, and would join with the church in responding to the royal commission's recommendations.

"I am strongly committed to reporting to the appropriate authorities, and have already exercised that duty here in Melbourne," he said.

But he also told parishioners he was "strongly committed to upholding the seal of confession".

"I have begun conversations with our public authorities about finding a way in which these two principles can be upheld, for the sake of the safety of all."

The Andrews Government in July stopped short of adopting one of the key recommendations made by the royal commission that would have forced priests to report any suspicions or explicit confessions of child abuse, instead protecting the seal of the confessional and saying it needed more time to consider the proposal.

The Pope's apology came a week after a grand jury in Pennsylvania in the US reported at least 1,000 children were victims of some 300 priests over the past 70 years.

For Chrissie Foster, whose daughters Emma and Katie Foster were both repeatedly sexually assaulted by Father Kevin O'Donnell while he was at Sacred Heart Primary School in Melbourne's south-eastern suburbs, the letter was "inflammatory".

"This crime was committed by the priesthood and it was the priesthood, in the form of the bishops, hiding it," Ms Foster said.

"While it reads okay to someone [who] hasn't experienced it, if you have experienced it, there's so many words in there — so many points, sentences — that just are inflammatory to us.

"Unless you've been through this, and I've had two daughters sexually assaulted by a priest, I don't think you feel the untruth in it. The insult in it."

The sexual assaults drove Katie to substance abuse, and she was hit by a car while crossing the road and now requires 24-hour care.

Emma checked into a rehabilitation centre where her parents say a counsellor, a nun and other staff convinced her that she was to blame for the assault. She took her own life the day after she was discharged.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard the Catholic Church was aware of allegations against O'Donnell almost 30 years before Emma started prep.

Ms Foster has, once again, called for action.

"The Vatican cannot claim now that they knew nothing about this. They've known for ages. We didn't know about it. They knew about it," she said.

"How can so many bishops around the world all be so morally bankrupt about this heartbreaking thing?

"The rape of children. How can they all do the same bad thing around the world."

The Pope's letter has been cautiously welcomed in some sectors.

"I think this is a first step for Pope Francis in really coming to grips with this problem of sexual abuse," said Paul Collins, a former priest.

"Now that he's got it, he's got to do something about it. And that's going to be much more difficult because he's going to have to tackle the bishops.

"He's really got to tackle those guys head on. And they've got to lose their jobs."

Last month, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of former Adelaide archbishop Philip Wilson after he was found guilty of covering up the abuse of children at the hands of paedophile priest Jim Fletcher in the 1970s.

Mr Collins said Pope Francis had only just started to appreciate the extent of the abuse and cover-ups in recent months.

But he warned that Australian bishops were still "dragging their feet" when it came to responding to the Royal Commission.

"Australian bishops would have to be seen as negligent in this whole thing," Mr Collins said.

"He's going to have to tackle these guys and they are going to have to be held to account. That's one of the big problems within Catholicism is that it doesn't have any strong system of accountability."

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference welcomed the Pope's letter.

"We share the Holy Father's determination to protect young people and vulnerable adults," said its president, Archbishop Mark Coleridge.

"These are important words from Pope Francis, but words are not enough. Now is the time for action on many levels."