Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle launches new Protection and Safety Council
The Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle announced this week the launch of the Diocesan Protection and Safety Council – a new body formed to advise the Bishop on child and vulnerable adult protection issues.
The Council will provide independent advice to the Bishop of Maitland-Newcastle, Bill Wright, on a range of issues, including promoting the protection of children and vulnerable adults within the Diocese, developing the Diocesan capacity to continue to support those who have been affected by child sexual abuse.
It will also work to rebuild a sense of trust within the community about the Diocese's commitment to protect children and vulnerable adults.
It is always encouraging to see a diocese or congregation taking new approaches to the protection of children and vulnerable adults. The latest is the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle which this week officially announced a new independent child protection council.
Putting in place this Council is yet another indication of the willingness, across much of the Church leadership in Australia, to look to lay experts to help address the many issues around the abuse of children and others.
Australia's oldest Catholic boys' boarding school, St Stanislaus' College in Bathurst, is set to apologise to students who were sexually abused by staff during their time at the College.
The Head of School, Dr Anne Wenham, said the school would make a formal public apology to all former students who were abused.
She said the school would do everything it could do to plan and organise what it called a "liturgy of sorrow and hope", that could been seen as a public apology and to be seeking forgiveness.
"It is impossible for me to walk in the shoes of survivors, I can only listen and be sensitive to their response to that," Dr Wenham said.
Report into historical child abuse in Ireland released
The head of the Catholic Church in Ireland has apologised unreservedly to survivors of sexual abuse following the publication of a report that found evidence of systematic and widespread sexual and physical crimes in Church-run institutions.
The Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, which published its findings this week, investigated allegations of abuse in 22 children's homes in Northern Ireland between 1922 and 1995.
Spending on child protection investigations in South Australia has been slashed and more children are falling between the gaps, according to media reports.
The Report on Government Services shows one in five children has been found to be abused or neglected even after previous warnings have been dismissed.
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