AUSTRALIA
The Age
November 14, 2013
Frank McGuire
Despite the suffering of victims revealed by the sex abuse inquiry, some men of God still refuse to accept the damage they did.
Betrayal of Trust reveals the cover-up that killed. The investigation report on the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations examined crime not faith, but like the journey through Dante’s Inferno, the deeper the descent, the more horrific the suffering. Many share the blame.
Perpetrators claiming to represent God committed the foulest crimes against children – formerly hanging offences – while religious denominations practised wilful blindness, protecting paedophiles through cultures of concealment. The Anglican and Catholic churches and the Salvation Army frequently took steps to conceal wrongdoing, according to their concessions and a substantial body of credible evidence.
Victorian governments failed their duty in orphanages and homes. Children suffered multiple betrayals of neglect or abandonment as infants; then when taken into the community’s care, they were grievously abused physically, emotionally and sexually.
Silver-haired men cradled photographs of themselves as schoolboys with sunshine smiles. A middle-aged woman presented a happy snap from her first Holy Communion depicting a young bride of Christ. Each memento was a cry from the heart yearning for innocence lost.
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