QUEENSLAND Church leaders have rejected allegations that the Churches have failed to respond adequately to recommendations from the Forde Inquiry into institutional child abuse.
A joint statement from five senior churchmen issued on August 29 said recent media coverage of the Churches’ response to the inquiry recommendations had failed to paint an accurate picture of their involvement in assisting the victims of abuse.
The statement was signed for the Catholic Church by Brisbane archdiocesan chancellor, Fr Jim Spence; Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane, Peter Hollingworth; first vice-president of the Lutheran Church of Australia, Queensland District, Pastor Geoff Hartwig; Uniting Church moderator for Queensland, Rev Ray Reddicliffe; and the Salvation Army’s Major James Condon.
The criticism of the Churches followed the August 24 tabling in State Parliament of the first report from the Forde Inquiry Monitoring Committee. The committee was set up 12 months ago by the State Government to examine implementation of the inquiry’s recommendations following wide-ranging reports of abuse at Church and state-run institutions.
The senior churchmen said in their statement last week that before and since the Forde Report, the Churches had played “a pivotal role in helping victims re-establish confidence, personal esteem, social relationships and emotional well-being”.
