Church in Oceania Still Shaken by Pedophilia Scandals

By Claire Lesegretain
LaCroix International
February 14, 2019

https://international.la-croix.com/news/church-in-oceania-still-shaken-by-pedophilia-scandals/9459


Members of the Royal Commission of inquiry into sexual abuse of children in Australia. (Photo by Jeremy Piper/AFP) This is the second in a five-part series on steps taken by Catholic bishops on the various continents.Australia, which has a 25 percent baptized Catholic population, has experienced a series of crises over the Church pedophilia scandal since the first accusations became public during the 1980s.In 1996, after a rising number of revelations, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) published its plans in a document entitled "Towards Healing" while the Archdiocese of Melbourne developed a plan of its own entitled "The Melbourne Response."The two protocols set out the procedures to be followed in cases of suspicion and reporting of abuse allegations involving a member of Church personnel.They included preventive...