www.therecord.com.au
8 September 2016
Edition #98
ARCHDIOCESE OF PERTH SIGNALS IMPORTANCE OF NATIONAL CHILD PROTECTION WEEK WITH STAR-STUDDED BREAKFAST By Rachel Curry
MORE than 250 people this week celebrated National Child Protection Week by attending the Archdiocese of Perth’s inaugural 2016 Child Protection Breakfast - an event which Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB hopes to hold annually. Held at the Duxton Hotel in the Perth CBD, the breakfast was attended by the State Minister for Mental Health and Child Protection, Andrea Mitchell MLA, Perth Lord Mayor, The Right Hon Lisa Scaffidi, the Western Australian Commissioner for Children and Young People Western Australia, Colin Pettit as well as senior people from Catholic Agencies and Government Departments. Hosted by ABC broadcaster Karen Tighe, the event focused on the importance of protecting children in our society and the steps that must be taken to prevent the failures of the past from happening again. Special tribute was paid to the Archdiocese of Perth’s Safeguarding Project, which has trained 192 volunteer Safeguarding Officers to work in parishes throughout Perth, many of whom attended the breakfast. During his address, A rc h bi shop C o st e l lo e acknowledged the Catholic Church in Australia’s “terrible record” on child protection, which has been brought to
Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe launches the inaugural 2016 Child Protection Breakfast by the Archdiocese of Perth. The Archbishop explained that the launch of the annual Child Protection Breakfast was a sign of the Archdiocese’s “determination to be at the forefront of child safety and child protection”, and to collaborate with others working in the field. WA Commissioner for Children and Young People Colin Pettit speaks at the inaugural 2016 Child Protection Breakfast at the Duxton Hotel on Tuesday 6 September, 2016. Archbishop Timothy Costelloe with Archdiocesan Safeguarding Project Co-Ordinator Andrea Musulin. PHOTOS: MARCO CECCARELLI
light by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. “For too long, the Catholic Church has been a part, a big part, of the problem. Now, as we try to respond with honesty, with humility and with compassion to those who have suffered so badly, we know that we can and we must also be part of the solution,” he said. The Archbishop explained that the launch of the annual Child Protection Breakfast was a sign of the Archdiocese’s “determination to be at the
forefront of child safety and child protection”, and to collaborate with others working in the field. The Catholic Church is not alone in having previously allowed predators to operate within its ranks, he added, which shows there is “a sickness at the heart of our society which is both frightening and destructive”. “But lest we become d i s cour aged or even despairing over the challenge we face, we should look around us this morning and draw hope and confidence
from the fact that all of us here are representatives of communities, organisations and public and private agencies which, as we collaborate together, constitute an ever growing army of people who are prepared to put our children first,” he said. The Archdiocese of Perth’s 2016 Child Protection Breakfast was sponsored by The eRecord, Protective Behaviours WA and the Knights of the Southern Cross WA. Full Text available at
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