AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun
THAT child sexual abuse by clergy has been found to be considered by Church hierarchy as “a short-term embarrassment” and not a reason to question their own culture is a toxic delusion hopefully to be exploded by today’s State Government report. It found the abuse of trust of children and parents was beyond comprehension.
Committee member Andrea Coote said the committee found current Catholic leadership saw child sexual abuse as something that could be minimalized and trivialised, and that “a sliding morality has emerged in the Catholic Church”. How terrifying, how dangerous and yes, how incomprehensible.
As chairwoman Georgie Crozier said tabling the Betrayal of Trust report, and as became painfully clear during the committee’s hearings, the children betrayed by trusted figures in organisations of high standing suffered unimaginable harm.
“Parents experienced a betrayal beyond comprehension, and the community was betrayed by the failure of organisations to protect children in their care,” Ms Crozier told Parliament.
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