What's Inside...
PERTH, WA: May 2, 1996
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will Australia's Catholic bishops employ a full-lime executive officer to co-ordinate their attack on the sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy and religious. The bishops nine-point 'plan of action' issued last Friday to deal with the cancer of child sex abuse of children also calls for bishops and other church leaders to meet victims to hear their stories of suffering, and for a Church investigation as to whether any factors peculiar to the Catholic Church might lead to sexual abuse by priests, religious or other church workers. The bishops' action in issuing the plan in the form of a Pastoral Letter to all Australian Catholics follows intense media coverage of allegations of sexual abuse by clergy and religious before the New South Wales Royal Commission into that State's police force during the last two weeks. It was alleged in the commission that some Church officials, including one bishop, failed to take action when such charges of sexual abuse were made against clergy. The commission heard the allegations as the question of how to deal with clergy and religious sex abuse of children dominated the attention of the 15-24 April meeting of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference in Sydney. As the conference ended last Wednesday week, Bishop William Murray of Wollongong, south of Sydney, admitted to the Royal Commission he had done nothing after a seminarian had complained to him he had been sexually assaulted as a student by a Christian Brother and a parish priest. Bishop Murray, who has just submitted his resignation on account of having reached the canonical retiring age, said he had been worried that the seminarian's journey to the priesthood would be rough if he had pursued the allegations. The Church would not also have been able to control the way in which the allegations were aired. He said he didn't think at the time that the seminarian was making a formal complaint and that he had not spoken to either the Christian Brother or the parish priest
Trusting in God in multiple sclerosis - Page 9
PRICE 60c
Bishops begin new attack on sex abuse By Peter Rosengren
Rural women reflect on adult faith education in the bush - Page 5 National Catholic education conference begins in Canberra - Page 3 New provincial of the Christian Brothers discusses the challenges ahead - Page 6
who were accused until after revelations on the matter had emerged in the media. The bishop's action plan. developed from protocols established by the Bishops Committee for Professional Standard's since 1988. includes arranging face-to-face meetings between victims of sexual abuse and bishops and religious leaders to hear directly their stories, hurts, concerns and needs. Dioceses and religious institutes will be asked to engage professional and independent persons to make suitable case studies on how incidents of sexual abuse have been handled, and a representative committee will be established to prepare codes of conduct for priests and religious. Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, a member of the Bishops' Committee for Professional Standards, said the meetings between bishops and victims were the most important aspect of the overall plan. "There's nothing as important as that, as actually sitting down and listening to victims," Bishop Robinson said. " After you've done that you can't have any illusions any longer, any at all, about sexual abuse, the gravity of it and the effects it has on people's lives." he said. In their letter the bishops said that while those who have sexually abused children are small in number their actions have affected all priests and Religious as well as the wider Church community throughout Australia. "The bishops say without hesitation that the overwhelming majority of priests and Religious serve their people with integrity and dedication. They deserve affirmation and support," they said. In their pastoral letter the bishops acknowledged "with deep regret" that a number of people associated with the Church "have betrayed the trust placed in them by sexual abuse of minors and adults." "In doing so they have acted in a way that is contrary to everything the Church stands for," they said. "We cannot change what has happened in the past, undo the wrongs that have been done, or banish the memories and the hurt," they said. "In seeking to do what is possible. our major goals must be: truth, humility, healing for the victims, assistance to other persons affected, an adequate response to those accused and to offenders, and prevention of any such offences in the future."
Prayers for all caught in a whirlwind of evil
Rescue workers rush a victim from the scene of the massacre last Sunday. Photo CNS,Reute
By Peter Rosengren As the reality of the massacre at the popular tourist site of Port Arthur in Tasmania's south begins slowly to sink into Australia's social consciousness, more is beginning to be known of the alleged killer, 29-year-old Martin Bryant. Although it is not yet clear what caused the tragedy, it seems Bryant was severely disturbed and had become a psychological time bomb. Two nieces of the director of the Archdiocese of Hobart's Catholic welfare service, Father Clem Kilby, lived on the same suburban block as the alleged killer and had met him. Fr Kilby is coordinating the Catholic Church's emergency counselling services to residents and victims' families. Twenty one year-old Angela Peters and her younger sister Elizabeth had known of him for several years but not trusted him when he arrived at their front door as a stranger asking for a date early in 1995. Angela told The Record his demeanour had given both the girls the impression that not all was right. But she had not known him closely. "One day he came round and my younger sister (then aged 16) opened the door and he started talking to her and he asked her out, if she wanted to go out for a date or something like that." Her sister had refused. On the odd occasion when Angela had met him he had given the impression of being highly strung, she said. "He seemed very nervy. He would ask a question and then start laughing straight away. He always had this smile on his face and (would) just laugh all the time and (yet) we hadn't said anything funny," she said. "He just seemed to be very cau-
tious. I feel, and (was) always lookint; around, taking in a lot. He was verl observant. I think: she said. He also seemed to be a contradictory type of character, "kind of 'cluey' but not really knowing what was going on." The massacre begun at the Broad Arrow Cafe has brought forth prayers for the victims, their families and the apparently deranged gunman. Catholic Archbishop Eric D'Arcy of Hobart said that at Masses held on Monday in his archdiocese for victims, Tasmanians had been unable to do anything but cry His message to the victims' families was one of unity in prayer. "Every Tasmanian unites with you in love and every Christian in Tasmania unites with you in prayer through Jesus and his mother who know what suffering and death are like from their own personal experience," he said. He called for prayers for gunman. "I would say that we must pray for him. It's one of the hardest things in the Gospel. I think its one of the hardest demands of the Gospel that we should pray for those who have injured and wronged us," Archbishop D'Arcy said. Father Morgan Batt, parish priest of the parish of Richmond that covers Port Arthur told The Record he knew of at least three parishioners who had been killed in the shooting spree. Those killed Included the bus driver who bused children to St John's school in Richmond. "There are many people, loved ones and friends, who have been shot . . . . They need professional help and they need to pray to God," he said. "I ask everyone to pray for us and for all those who were shot or injured," he said. Archbishop Hickey asks us to reflect on the causes of violence - Page 2