The facts run counter to a scandalous allegation to the contrary, says a statement from the Catholic Church.

Recent news reports allege the Church has refused to hand the Vatican report to the Police.

The Conference has responded firmly, denying the allegations.

It confirmed in the statement that a copy of a report about the former Bishop of Broome's alleged sexually abusive behaviour is in the possession Western Australia Police Deputy Commissioner Allan Adams.

Just why the Police don't seem to have a record of the report is not known.

But the Catholic Church takes its reporting obligations seriously, the bishops' statement continues.

"The Church and Western Australia Police remain in ongoing and collaborative contact in relation to this matter," the statement said, adding that "the Church will continue to offer full transparency and cooperation with the WA Police."

West Australia politicians mistaken

The Bishops Conference statement says that the politicians' "unfounded allegations" that the Catholic Church failed to abide by the state's mandatory reporting laws are wrong.

The politicians have somehow assumed - without justification - that the Church is keeping the report from the WA Police.

The WA politicians' misinformation has led some MPs to wonder if prosecuting the Catholic Church is possible.

Some think it might be appropriate to charge the Church for "failing to adhere to mandatory reporting laws".

The politicians' assumptions are like a made-up story. They couldn't be further from the truth.

The Conference points out the report was handed over to the Police before any ideas about their "failing to adhere to mandatory reporting laws" were raised.

"The Church understands and takes seriously its mandatory reporting obligations under West Australian law.

"Despite unfounded allegations to the contrary, there has been no breach of the Children and Community Services Act 2004, which applies only to children. None of the potential victims were under the age of 18."

The statement also noted that the Catholic Church "continues to encourage anyone who has experienced abuse, or suspects abuse within the community, to come forward and report it to police."

In addition, the Conference statement says: "It is important to note that there were no new potential victims identified in the Church's internal investigations. Western Australia Police already held the list of all potential victims."

Source

• Australian Catholic Bishops Conference

The Vatican report had criticised them as being feminist and politicised.

In a reference to the reaction to last month's report, he said he hoped that "this moment of discernment will bear abundant spiritual fruit for the revitalization and strengthening of their communities in fidelity to Christ and the Church ..."

The report was issued after a Vatican investigation determined that the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, whose 1,500 members represent some 80 percent of American nuns, had "serious doctrinal problems" and promoted "radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith".

Criticism included that the LCWR had been "silent on the right to life" and had failed to make the "Biblical view of family life and human sexuality" central to its mission.

The Pope added, "The urgent need in our own time for credible and attractive witnesses to the redemptive and transformative power of the Gospel makes it essential to recapture a sense of the sublime dignity and beauty of the consecrated life ..."

A New York Times editorial called the Vatican's report "a misreading of the very fine work in schools, charities, prison and impoverished neighborhoods being done by about 60,000 nuns across the nation".

American nuns and U.S. bishops have disagreed over several social issues. They supported President Barack Obama's health care reform which the bishops opposed.

The Vatican named Seattle Archbishop Peter Sartain and two other U.S. bishops to reform conference's statutes, programs and its application of liturgical texts, a process it said could take up to five years.

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Fruit of a year-long investigation, the report, published on Wednesday, acknowledged the Irish Catholic Church had failed many innocent young people and "those who should have exercised vigilance often failed to do so effectively".

"The Holy See re-echoes the sense of dismay and betrayal which the Holy Father expressed in his Letter to the Catholics of Ireland regarding the sinful and criminal acts that were at the root of this particular crisis," the report says.

The apostolic visitation came as the Church in Ireland faced a storm of criticism in the wake of reports that showed many bishops had failed to curb sexual abuse by priests, protecting the guilty clerics and covering up evidence of their misconduct.

"Those who should have exercised diligence often failed to do so effectively," the report said.

The Vatican's report was particularly critical of seminaries and their processes and outlined a seven-point list of improvements including maintaining proper equilibrium between human, spiritual and church dimensions, and the importance of having good admission criteria and intellectual formation for seminarians.

The report calls for religious leaders to continue the reforms begun in order to avoid a similarly shameful scandal in the future.

While priests and the Church's hierarchy have praised the document, and the child protection measures implemented since the 1990's have been labelled 'excellent', victims of clerical sexual abuse have labelled it as "window dressing".

Sources

• Reuters
• BBC
• Irish Examiner
• RTE News
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