What Victoria Police told the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and Other Organisations concerning the manner in which the Catholic Church deals with allegations of the sexual abuse of minors by those in religious orders:
That the Catholic Church is seen as the principal offender against the rights of child victims is made clear:
Following up the explosive police submission to the state inquiry
into the churches' handling of sex abuse, the deputy commissioner unloaded more
broadsides attacking the Catholic Church's obstruction of police investigations
into paedophile clergy going back six decades.
He unleashed his shocking litany in calm, measured tones, seated
at a venerable table opposite the six committee members, watched by framed
dignitaries on the wall and a packed chamber of visitors.
He said the police had for the first time aggregated their sexual
offence statistics by clergy and church workers since January 1956: 2110
offences against 519 victims, overwhelmingly perpetrated by Catholic priests
and mostly against boys aged 11 or 12. Yet the church had not reported a single
crime to police.
The Church's submissions to this inquiry insist that there has been an emerging awareness of the problem, it has been recognised and the bishops are now handling allegations of sexual abuse in an appropriate manner.
However, this assertion denies fact. The Catholic Church has long known about sexual abuse by clergy and others. It has been codifying responses since its early years:
Child sexual abuse has always been a scourge in our society and in our Church.
[Rev. Msgr. Stephen J. Rossetti PhD DMin, undated]
While it was only the day before the Victorian inquiry began its public hearings that NSW Police arrested, charged with twenty-five offences and brought before the court a former priest who had allegedly abused children over a twenty year period before formally leaving the priesthood in 2005. A priest who had made certain admissions to the Church in 1992, but remained under its active protection for years until exposed in an ABC Four Corners program aired on 2 July 2012.
However, this assertion denies fact. The Catholic Church has long known about sexual abuse by clergy and others. It has been codifying responses since its early years:
Child sexual abuse has always been a scourge in our society and in our Church.
[Rev. Msgr. Stephen J. Rossetti PhD DMin, undated]
The Council of Elvira, circa 306 AD - Canon Law
18. Bishops, presbyters, and deacons,
once they have taken their place in the ministry, shall not be given communion
even at the time of death if they are guilty of sexual immorality. Such scandal
is a serious offense.
71. Those who sexually abuse boys may not
commune even when death approaches.
While it was only the day before the Victorian inquiry began its public hearings that NSW Police arrested, charged with twenty-five offences and brought before the court a former priest who had allegedly abused children over a twenty year period before formally leaving the priesthood in 2005. A priest who had made certain admissions to the Church in 1992, but remained under its active protection for years until exposed in an ABC Four Corners program aired on 2 July 2012.
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