CEO of the Truth Justice and Healing Council (TJHC), Francis Sullivan, has met with Discalced Carmelite Friars at their Mount Carmel Retreat Centre in south west Sydney to discuss the child abuse Royal Commission and the Church's reform agenda.
Mr Sullivan gave an overview of the Church's development of new policies to protect young people in the future and to help it respond appropriately and justly to survivors.
"It is vital we always put the needs of victims and survivors of child sexual abuse first," he told the group.
The release of the consultation paper on redress and civil litigation in Sydney last week was a major milestone for the Royal Commission and a beacon of hope for all survivors of institutional child sex abuse.
In April the Royal Commission will travel to Rockhampton where the public hearing will focus on the experiences of children at St Joseph's Orphanage, Neerkol, which was managed by the Sisters of Mercy. The case study will also examine the conduct of priests attached to the Diocese of Rockhampton who carried out duties at the Orphanage.
Last weekend Rockhampton Bishop, Michael McCarthy sent a Pastoral Letter to all parishes and schools asking that survivors of child sexual abuse be kept in their prayers.
Late last year the Christian Brothers, Oceania Province, released an update on its commitment to re-examine past settlements with former child residents of its orphanages and farm schools in WA during the 1950s, 60s and 70s.
The Catholic Church is fully supportive of the consultation paper, in particular its option for a national redress scheme, which closely resembles the scheme proposed by the TJHC in its submission to the Royal Commission in August 2014.
The Commission has now fired the starting gun on developing a new way of providing fair and consistent redress for the survivors of child sexual abuse.
A generous national redress scheme, funded by the institutions responsible for the abuse but led by the Australian Government is now broadly supported as the best option.
Australia's national children's commissioner said she is deeply concerned about new figures that reveal that several hundred children in care were abused in the last year.
In an interview on Radio National's The World Today the national children's commissioner Megan Mitchell said these children have suffered enough and that the 41,000 Australian children in care are already the most vulnerable in the country.
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