AUSTRALIA
The Tablet (UK)
03 June 2015 by Fr Peter Day
This past couple of weeks the Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Australia has shone yet more light on the terrible abuse committed by church leaders; this time in Ballarat, Victoria. It’s enough to bring a man to his knees.
The public hearings have revealed some gut-wrenching personal accounts: stories of young people (and their families) crippled by sexual abuse; stories of utter betrayal; stories we would rather not hear – stories we must hear.
It’s hard being a Catholic today; it’s hard being a Catholic priest today.
Indeed, such is the extent of the crisis that in some circles priest and paedophile have become interchangeable words. It is as if we have moved from an unhealthy, “A priest would never do that”, to a just as unhealthy, “He’s a priest, so he probably did do that.”
The following question in a letter in The Weekend Australian epitomises this collapse in trust: “Are there any parents with young children who still take them to church? If so, can they explain why?”
Our collective shame is deep because good people are being condemned by association.
But we must not fall prey to self-pity because, we are not nearly as innocent, or as damaged, as the children who are only now being given a voice.
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