In response to the Victoria Police written submission to the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and Other Non-Government Organisations, Archbishop Denis Hart wrote to the Chair of the Inquiry on 17 October 2012. The response was published on the Inquiry website on 28 March 2013. A copy of the Archbishop's letter is available here.
 
The Catholic Church in Victoria acknowledges and supports the role of Victoria Police as the appropriate authority to investigate criminal activity and our preference is for the police to handle investigations of all criminal matters. That is their role, and they have powers which the Church does not. The Church encourages victims to report their complaints to police, assists them in doing so and has made proposals in its submission, Facing the Truth, to facilitate reporting in the future which respects the rights of victims. The Catholic Church in Victoria believes that in the absence of a statutory obligation to report it must respect and uphold the rights of those victims who do not wish to report to police.

Representatives of the Catholic Church in Victoria and the Melbourne Response have exercised their right to reply to a number of the submissions and published transcripts of testimony given by persons appearing at public hearings conducted by the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry. These replies have been accepted and published on the Inquiry website.

Our Submission

The Catholic Church in Victoria lodged its detailed submission Facing the Truth with the Family and Community Development Committee which is conducting the Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and Other Non-Government Organisations on Friday, 21 September 2012.
 
The submission is made by:

• The Catholic Bishops of Victoria:
  • Archbishop Denis Hart on behalf of the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne;
  • Bishop Peter Connors on behalf of the Catholic Diocese of Ballarat;
  • Bishop Christopher Prowse on behalf of the Catholic Diocese of Sale; and
  • Bishop Leslie Tomlinson on behalf of the Catholic Diocese of Sandhurst.
• The Catholic Religious Orders, Congregations and Societies within Victoria represented by:
  • Sister Annette Cunliffe rsc on behalf of Catholic Religious Australia; and
  • Sister Helen Toohey csb on behalf of Catholic Religious Victoria.

The submission Facing the Truth, and further supplementary submissions have been accepted and published by the Parliamentary Inquiry.

Click on the following links to view:

• The Facing the Truth submission.
• Facing the Truth Appendix 1 Part A
• Facing the Truth Appendix 1 Part B

Click on the following links to view:

• Supplementary Submission 1 – details of the five reforms proposed by the Church in Victoria
• Supplementary Submission 2 – updated statistics, the Correcting Misconceptions booklet, and details about the process of laicisation
• Supplementary Submission 3 – overview of the research into clergy sexual abuse of children in the United States by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice
• Supplementary Appendix 1 – John Jay Report, 2011: The Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States, 1950-2010
• Supplementary Appendix 2 – John Jay Report, 2004: The Nature and Scope of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests and Deacons in the United States 1950-2002.

Last updated: 12 August 2013