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Catholic Life Publication of the Diocese of Sale
February 2017
ISSUE 197
Pray for abuse victims Bishop responds to Royal Commission statistics THE Bishop of Sale Pat O’Regan has responded to figures released last week about the Diocese of Sale by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse. He said that at this particular time, his first thoughts and prayers were with the many victim survivors of sexual abuse perpetrated by members of the Catholic clergy. He had no doubt that the next few weeks would be a time of distress for them in the recollection of their stories and the memories that would be invoked. “We can only pray that this public drawing together of the tragic and disgraceful history of abuse in the Church assists in a tangible way to lead the survivors to some sense of peace and healing.” Bishop O’Regan said the Diocese of Sale, like every other Diocese in Australia, had its share of perpetrators of sexual abuse. “Nothing that we say about statistics can diminish the suffering of even one person. We cannot pretend that the vagaries of statistical analysis somehow makes us less culpable for the harm that has been done.” To suggest, as some media outlets had done, that the Diocese of Sale was the epicentre of the abuse crisis was to simplify a very complex and tragic piece of our collective history. He said that what was needed was to take a whole and collective responsibility for the abuse that had occurred and to take a whole and collective part in the redress of the issue. Bishop O’Regan said the statistics quoted in the Royal Commission data needed further analysis and explanation. To have a single priest abuser was one too many and to have a single claim against a Diocese was also one too many. He said the Diocese of Sale did not have 15.1 percent of the
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4500 claims made in Australia over the past 35 years as some may have read into the figures. The report brought adverse attention on the Diocese of Sale which actually had a total of 20 claims. Given the 1880 perpetrators, of which 384 were Diocesan priests, the total number of our priests alleged to have been perpetrators, using the 15.1 percent figure, would be 12 which was consistent with data held by the Diocese.
On these figures the 12 from Sale represented 3.1 percent of the total alleged perpetrators Australia-wide. All alleged diocese priest perpetrators were now deceased. Bishop O’Regan said the Diocese of Sale had, over recent years, been working with victims, their advocates and legal advisors to reach both pastoral and financial agreements. This has occurred through
the work of the current and previous Bishops and Vicars General. The Diocese would continue to work pastorally in this way. He said that from the perspective of prevention, a Professional Standards Officer had been appointed to work across parishes and schools to ensure that all proper processes for the protection of children and vulnerable adults were in place and actively promoted, resourced and monitored.
In the days before the Royal Commission report, Bishop O’Regan sent a letter to all parishes to distribute among parishioners, which warned that the final three weeks of hearings involving the Catholic Church could be a difficult and distressing time. He again offered his apology on behalf of the Catholic Church for the damage which had been done to the lives of victims of sexual abuse.
Celebrating Filipino saint’s day in Sale
SOME of the dancers in their colorful costumes take time out for lunch before performing at the Santo Nino celebrations in Sale. SALE - Members of the Filipino community from across Sale Diocese gathered in Sale for the annual celebration of the Feast of Santo Nino (of Feast of the
Holy Infant Jesus). Following Mass in St Mary’s Cathedral celebrated by Bishop Pat O’Regan and a sumptuous morning tea, several hundred
people gathered in the Sale Botanic Gardens for the feast and an afternoon of dancing and song. The popular Filipino choir
Bayanihan Circle performed and there were many impromptu performances as the day went on.
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