A REPRESENTATIVE of a national body co-ordinating the Church’s response to allegations of sexual, physical and emotional abuse against children, young people and vulnerable adults has praised the Australian Government’s formal apology to those subjected to harm in children’s homes.
At the same time, the Church’s National Committee for Professional Standards protection and prevention officer Brigidine Sister Angela Ryan has expressed the hope that the past good work of many workers in these institutions is not overlooked.
Sr Ryan said Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s formal apology in parliament on Monday on behalf of the Commonwealth of Australia would be “an important healing step” for many who had experienced institutional abuse.
She also supported Mr Rudd’s commitment to ensure protection for the 30,000 children and young people in the care of the state in Australia.
Sr Ryan, who has worked with the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) professional standards committee for the past 10 years and has been involved in dealing with Church-related sexual abuse issues since the mid-80s, said people with whom she had been involved in the course of her work had indicated for many years that an official apology was important.
“Watching the media coverage and the reactions of many of the hundreds of those in parliament to hear the apology, this clearly proved to be the case,” she said.
“At the same time it’s also important to acknowledge the good people who worked in these institutions and helped the children in so many ways.
“I’m pleased that Kevin Rudd did give an example of one such person in his speech.”
The Catholic Church made its first apology to all people who have suffered abuse by Church personnel in the 1996 document “Towards Healing”.
Church leaders last week reiterated the apology as they joined with the Australian Government’s formal apology to those subjected to harm in children’s homes.
“We are … deeply regretful for the hurt caused whenever the Church’s response has denied or minimised the pain that victims have experienced,” ACBC president Archbishop Philip Wilson, Catholic Religious Australia president Good Samaritan Sister Clare Condon and Catholic Social Services Australia executive director Frank Quinlan said in a joint statement.
“We pray that this apology, delivered by the Prime Minister in the national parliament, will play an important role in healing many of the wounds which were laid bare with great courage before the Senate Inquiry into Children in Institutional Care.”
It has been estimated that more than half a million “Forgotten Australians” faced sexual abuse, violence and forced labour in Australia’s orphanages and institutions between 1930 and 1970.
Many among the estimated 1000 people who packed Parliament House for the Prime Minister’s address burst into tears as cases of neglect were detailed.
Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull in his response also showed emotion as he talked of tragic cases of neglect.
The apology came after three Senate inquiries over more than a decade – Lost Innocents (2001), Forgotten Australians (2004) and the recent Lost Innocents and Forgotten Australians Revisited.
The apology quickly made waves in Britain where Prime Minister Gordon Brown was set to apologise to more than 130,000 disadvantaged who were shipped as children to Australia and other former colonies.
