WelCom November 2018:
The Australian Catholic Church has welcomed Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s apology to survivors of institutional child sexual abuse and recommitted to working with the community to eliminate child sexual abuse.
Leaders of Catholic Religious Australia and the Australian Catholic Bishops released a statement on 22 October 2018 after the prime minister’s address to parliament.
‘The National Apology today and the apologies made by institutions during the life of the Royal Commission and since have been an important validation of the courage of survivors of abuse in seeking truth, justice, and healing. We think first of them at this time,’ said CRA president Sr Monica Cavanagh rsj.
‘On behalf of the Catholic bishops and religious leaders of Australia, we renew our profound and heartfelt apology to all victims and survivors of abuse and to their families, friends, and supporters, who have shared their suffering.’
Archbishop Mark Coleridge, president of the ACBC, said abuse perpetrated by priests, brothers, sisters and lay people was ‘an utter betrayal of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and it should never have happened’.