AUSTRALIA
Catholic News Service
SYDNEY (CNS) — Five Australian archbishops testified before a government commission on child sexual abuse, reiterating apologies and taking responsibility for actions that occurred before they were church leaders.
They also said they believed the culture of church and society had changed enough that it would help such abuse from occurring in the future.
The abuse of children in the church was “a catastrophic failure in many respects, but primarily in leadership,” Archbishop Timothy Costelloe of Perth told the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse Feb. 23, near the end of three weeks of public hearings.
Gail Furness, the counsel assisting the commission, asked four other archbishops if they concurred with the assessment, and all agreed.
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