The Catholic Church is experiencing its own #MeToo moment, following allegations of sexual abuse and cover-up coming to light in countries throughout the world. Australian archbishop Mark Coleridge says the Church is facing the same challenge that has brought a reckoning to those who used their authority to abuse or silence victims. Read more Related Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Abuse’
No papal apology for Canadian First Nations People 
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Thursday, April 5th, 2018
Survivors of a Canadian system that forced generations of indigenous children into mainly Catholic-run boarding schools won’t be getting an apology from Pope Francis. The Canadian Council of Bishops (CCB) said last week “after carefully considering the request” for an apology, Francis “felt that he could not personally respond”. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has expressed Read more
5 mistakes to never make with an abuser Comments 0
Thursday, March 8th, 2018
Abuse is about having power over someone. An abuser typically wants to feel superior, to control and dominate. To them, communication is not about understanding. It’s a win-lose game. They use verbal abuse and/or violence to accomplish this. They’re frequently self-centered, impatient, unreasonable, insensitive, unforgiving, lack empathy, and are often jealous, suspicious, and withholding. Their Read more
Anglican Church – abuse revelations Comments 0
Thursday, February 15th, 2018
The Church of England is facing two years of revelations about sexual abuse and attempts to cover it up, the Anglican Church ruling general synod has been told. Read more Related Posts:Australian Anglican Church: 1,100 abuse complaints#MeToo hashtag, abuse and the Church of EnglandHistoric claim of sexual abuse at Catholic primary…Why the seal of the Read more
Why the seal of the confessional will remain Comments 0
Monday, August 21st, 2017
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has published a 2000-page three volume Criminal Justice Report. One of its recommendations is that the states and territories “create a criminal offence of failure to report targeted at child sexual abuse in an institutional context”. If such an offence were created, those of us who Read more
Historical abuse of children in state care: why an inquiry is needed Comments 0
Monday, March 20th, 2017
Every time Anne Tolley and Bill English talk about the new Ministry for Vulnerable Children, or oppose an inquiry into the historical abuse of children in state care, it sticks like a knife in my guts. I am Ngāti Porou through my mother, and I’m Weira — Welsh — through my father. After spending 14 Read more
Marie Collins responds to Cardinal Müller’s allegations about abuse commission Comments 0
Thursday, March 16th, 2017
Editor’s note: Marie Collins of Ireland is a clergy sexual abuse survivor who resigned March 1 from Pope Francis’ Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, gave an interview shortly following Collins’ resignation. Collins has written an open letter to Read more
The Catholic wrap-up at the Royal Commission Comments 0
Thursday, March 2nd, 2017
We have just emerged from what the media calls ‘the Catholic wrap up’ at the Royal Commission. This three-week hearing culminated in the joint appearance of the five most senior bishops in our Australian Church. They apologised not just for the sins of those church personnel who violated children, the most vulnerable members of our Read more
Distorted view of celibacy leads to abuse Comments 0
Monday, February 13th, 2017
With the release of a shocking report from Australia on accusations of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests, the old question is bound to arise: “Is the discipline of celibacy to blame for sexual abuse of minors?” The complicated question is dealt with in historian Philip Jenkins’s excellent study on the problem. Published in Read more
Clerical sex abuse in Australia: can you believe the statistics? Comments 3
Monday, February 13th, 2017
The headlines in Australian newspapers this week have not been kind to the Catholic Church. Gail Furness, the lawyer for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, delivered a blistering speech outlining its findings to date about Catholic dioceses, religious orders and institutions. Afterwards, the Sydney Morning Herald editorialised: “Now we know too, that Read more
