I would also like to add my support to the Melbourne Victims’ Collective for an independent public enquiry in the way the Melbourne Catholic Archdiocese has handled complaints about sexual abuse perpetrated by Catholic priests against children.
From my own experience in assisting victims of crime in dealing with such matters I have seen the Catholic church and their representatives further abuse and intimidate victims, as well as discouraging them from making police statements, while involved in such processes as Towards Healing.
If the Catholic church ever wishes to again establish credibility they should adopt a policy of honesty rather than a policy of denial. The first step towards healing is to acknowledge ones wrong doing, the second is to correct it.
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The Catholic Church apologists have been trying to deny that the rulings in “The Crime of Solicitation” (Crimen Sollicitionis) are not applicable today. Well, nobody taught the past generations of children at Catholic schools, nor preached sermons, saying that any Church-related sex crimes, including bestiality, ought to be kept secret from the police. No, so how can we expect and real reform in the Church in Melbourne, or Ireland where a Vatican directive came out telling the Irish bishops they were wrong to report such crimes to the police. “Remove the wicked from among yourselves” is the genuine Christian ruling.