AUSTRALIA
National Catholic Reporter
Stephen Crittenden | Dec. 13, 2013
SYDNEY Making its first appearance before the national Royal Commission into sexual abuse this week, Australia’s Catholic church led with another of its characteristic “foot in mouth” moments.
Survivors of abuse stormed out of the Sydney courtroom in tears when the church’s senior barrister, Peter Gray, commenced his opening address with a quotation from St. Mark’s Gospel: “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them: for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.”
Chaired by New South Wales Supreme Court Justice Peter McClellan, the six-member Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was established in November 2012 by former prime minister Julia Gillard after years of mounting public pressure. At least 5,000 people are expected to come forward to tell their stories of abuse.
The Royal Commission examines “how institutions with a responsibility for children have managed and responded to allegations and instances of child sexual abuse,” according to its website. The commission will also “investigate where systems have failed to protect children and make recommendations on how to improve laws, policies and practices to prevent and better respond to child sexual abuse in institutions.”
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