TJHC meets with Brisbane priests and Catholic Social service leaders
More than 180 priests from across the Archdiocese of Brisbane met late last week as part of their annual Clergy Convocation where they discussed a range of pastoral and administrative matters.
Francis Sullivan, who spoke to the group, said priests need to be at the forefront of rebuilding the reputation and credibility of the Church after more than four years of Royal Commission public hearings.
He also recently met with the leaders of Cathoilic social service organisations across Australia. The two day meeting looked at issues around entrenched poverty and also how CSSA members will contribute to future processes to protect vulnerable people and support survivors, clients, staff and the community following the Royal Commission.
A new research project released by the Commission last week looking at child protection oversight and regulations highlights the inconsistent approaches taken by different governments to protect children from sexual abuse in institutions across Australia.
Over the nearly five years of work in the Royal Commission, the glaring differences between state governments in how they go about protecting children have been laid bare.
Every day evidence mounts that it is now more than ever crucial that the Prime Minister and other heads of government commit COAG to establishing an implementation council that will receive the recommendations from this Royal Commission and get down to the urgent task of making them happen.
The Royal Commission has released a new research report that finds Australian oversight bodies have inconsistent scope and powers in protecting children from sexual abuse in institutions.
The report, Oversight and regulatory mechanisms aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse: Understanding current evidence of efficacy, finds there are differences across jurisdictions in presence, nature, scope and powers.
The Age recently reported on the County Court in Victoria hearing the first case involving a new single offence of 'grooming, without any sexual assault'.
The case deals with a young teacher and his relationship with a troubled grade six boy. The teacher was charged with the grooming offence in August 2015.
According to the Age what has happened since then amounts either to the destruction of an innocent teacher's reputation – or the failure of the legal system to protect a vulnerable child.
They are the next generation of Catholic priests who want to ensure the horrors of the past - highlighted by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse - are not repeated.
The priest in charge of Corpus Christi College in Melbourne, Father Denis Stanley, has told SBS World News he encourages the trainee priests to take note of what has emerged at the Royal Commission.
"The work of the Royal Commission is now part of the context in which we live, it's part of our time and place," he said.
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