LEADERS of religious congregations have reaffirmed their commitment to Towards Healing, the Church’s protocol for dealing with complaints of sexual abuse, but have voted unanimously in favour of a series of amendments to the policy.
The 125 leaders of religious women and men in Australia and the Pacific region voted on the changes at their annual conference at Melbourne Town Hall from June 25-28.
President of the Australian Conference of Leaders of Religious Institutes (
ACLRI), Presentation Sister Bernadette Keating said handling cases of sexual abuse remained a major challenge for religious leaders everywhere.
Sr Keating said that since it was developed by the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the ACLRI in 1996, Towards Healing had processed more than 1000 cases of people alleging sexual, physical and emotional abuse by clergy and religious, and that most of these had been successfully resolved by the process.
‘The national assembly acknowledged that the Towards Healing process had helped victims of abuse with the courage to bring their complaint forward, to have it heard, considered and resolved satisfactorily ‘ to the degree that it’s humanly possible to ever truly heal the terrible hurt done to a victim of sexual abuse ‘ in more than 90 per cent of cases brought forward,’ Sr Keating said.
The proposed amendments included approval to review membership of the national committee; to review the positions of co-chairperson; the possibility of establishing extra layers of recourse for victims, such as an ombudsman; and the formation of an additional consultative panel for each diocesan bishop and religious leader to advise and assist them through the process.
In relation to allegations brought against bishops or religious leaders, the delegates voted ‘there be no difference in the process adopted for a bishop/leader and the process adopted for a priest/religious’, and ‘in the event a complaint is made against a bishop or religious leader the Ôdirector of professional standards’ for the case shall be the co-chairpersons of the national committee for professional standards acting together’.
ACLRI vice-president, Passionist Father Denis Travers, said the leaders at the conference found hope in images such as ‘the burnt bush’ which was often a frightening image of the Australian landscape.
‘We see that many events over the past years ‘ especially those around sexual abuse ‘ have affected religious life much as a bushfire burns across the land,’ Fr Travers said.
‘New life actually comes from apparent devastation. So too, in the life of the Church community, we would like to recognise that there are new initiatives springing to life today and that there is a new solidarity among religious institutes and dioceses to respond together and effectively to the challenges that face us.’
