February 2, 2017
Frankly speaking...

We are now less than a week away from the final hearing of the Catholic Church in this Royal Commission. At a time like this it can be too easy to forget the journey that has brought us to this point. Many courageous survivors have come forward to retell their stories or to reveal their ordeal for the first time. No doubt this was traumatizing and may have possibly plunged them into places of hurt and despondency. This has been a big price to pay in the interests of public knowledge and better child protection. We need to acknowledge this when the history of this Commission is told.

February 2, 2017

  Next Monday the Royal Commission will start its final case study into the Catholic Church.

Ahead of this hearing the President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, Archbishop Denis



Hart, has issued a message to Australian Catholics.

“In anticipation of these proceedings, it is important for bishops to help prepare the Catholic community for this hearing,” Archbishop Hart has said.

"Next week's hearing will be a time of accountability and witness. Within the Catholic community, it will also be a time of prayer and of renewed commitment to safeguarding children."

Statement from Archbishop Hart regarding final Catholic Royal Commission case study

The Archbishop of Brisbane, Mark Coleridge, has also released a video message which will be played at Masses across the Brisbane Archdiocese this weekend and will also be sent to all Brisbane Catholic Education school parents.

Watch the video here

TJHC media release here

Shocking extent of Catholic abuse February 2, 2017

The horrific extent of child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in Australia will be laid bare in a world first as its apologetic leaders pledge to "eradicate this evil".

Data on abuse claims in the Catholic Church will be released as part of a royal commission hearing that begins on Monday.

The head of the church's Truth Justice and Healing Council expects the community will be shocked by the extent of abuse revealed by church records going back to the 1950s.

"It will reveal a horrific picture of the extent of the claims of abuse by priests and brothers whose responsibility was to protect and care for children," TJHC chief executive Francis Sullivan said.

"I was quite confronted by it and I'm sure I won't be alone on that."

Mr Sullivan believes it is the first time in the world the Catholic Church's records on child sexual abuse have been compiled and analysed for public consideration.

"It's terribly important for the complete story to be told," he told AAP.

The records used in the royal commission's data survey cover child sex abuse claims received by Catholic Church authorities in Australia.

However Mr Sullivan acknowledges the data will not reveal the full extent of abuse in Catholic institutions as some victims never come forward.

"These are the known claims and we all know that a lot of adult survivors of abuse tell no one, ever."

Australia's Catholic leaders have again apologised for the "confronting and shameful" history of abuse as they brace for the royal commission's final public hearing on the church, the 15th directly focused on it and 20th it has been involved in.

Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president, Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart, said the leaders will explain what the church has been doing to change the old culture that allowed abuse to continue and to improve its response to allegations and better protect children.

Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge said it was not enough to change procedures and protocols.

"We have to shift the culture. And that's a much more difficult thing to do," he said.

Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe said the Catholic community was deeply shamed by the failures of so many in the church and horrified by the suffering inflicted on so many innocent people.

"As a church we are committed now to doing everything we can to ensure that this evil is eradicated from our midst," he said in a pastoral letter this week.

The hearing will run for three weeks and one day, much longer than upcoming final hearings for institutions such as the Anglican and Uniting churches.

© AAP 2017