For the Innocents invites you to come on pilgrimage to espouse the National apology – to all those who experienced Sexual Abuse as children in an Institution – by the Prime Minister. Our pilgrimage will gather at 11.30 at the Healing Remembrance Garden of St Patrick’s College, 1431 Sturt St Ballarat on Saturday, 20 October, 2018.
Royal Commission
Religions for Peace Australia is providing coverage of state and national inquiries into child sexual abuse with multi-faith and interfaith perspectives as a service to the interfaith community.
This select coverage is offered as service to the religious and faith communities of Australia; there is no intention to single out nor provide critique of any single institution … Religions for Peace gives service to multifaith, multicultural and Interfaith networks.
Buddhism: Pema Chödrön apologizes for dismissing allegation of sexual assault from young woman
On Saturday, famed Buddhist teacher Pema Chödrön released a statement responding to an allegation that she once dismissed a woman’s report that she was raped by a Shambhala Center director.
Chödrön is a Buddhist nun, best-selling author, and senior teacher in the Shambhala community. She is a member of Shambhala’s “Transition Task Force,” the temporary committee appointed to appoint a new Shambhala board after the previous board resigned after allegations of sexual misconduct by leaders in the community.
Dalai Lama meets with survivors of abuse by Buddhist teachers
The Dalai Lama met with four survivors of abuse by Buddhist teachers on Friday. The meeting took place in the Netherlands, on the first day of His Holiness’s four-day tour of the country.
Royal Commission into Aged Care
Religions for Peace Australia (RfPA) today welcomed the announcement by the Federal Government of a Royal Commission into aged care in Australia. More than one in every three older Australians was born overseas, as per the recent Census.
Rebuilding Pastoral Health and Integrity after the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse
“… And What Would God Think?”
Keynote address presented at the Health and Integrity Conference held in Melbourne at the University of Divinity on 27th – 29th August 2018 after the December 2017 release of the Report of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse sponsored by the University of Divinity, three Catholic religious orders (Franciscans, Redemptorists and the Passionists), the Yarra Theological Union and Carroll and O’Dea Lawyers.
National Apology to Survivors of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse
The government has announced when it will deliver the national apology to survivors of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse: 22 October.
There are only 800 places, with 400 going to organisations that support survivors, and the other 400 open to a ballot. A website has been created for people to join the ballot for places at the National Apology
Royal Commission: Catholic Church must reform canon law in wake of child sex abuse royal commission
Amid international media hype and confusing reporting, Australia’s Catholic leaders delivered their official response to the Royal Commission on Institutional Responses to Sexual Abuse last week.
So, has the Australian Catholic Church “rejected mandatory reporting“, as Al Jazeera published? Or did The Hindu get it right with their headline: “Australian Catholic leaders vow to end abuse cover-up“?
The devil is, as always, in the detail. And there is a lot of detail.
The joint response from the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) and Catholic Religious Australia (CRA), which represents nuns, sisters and brothers, monks and friars, says bishops and religious leaders accept most of the recommendations of the royal commission.
Simultaneously, the long-awaited Truth, Justice and Healing Council (TJHC) report, a self-analysis commissioned by the ACC and the CRA, was made public — it’s a bitter medicinal pill Catholic leadership themselves had paid for and asked to be administered.
The bottom line is that the diverse and independent parts of a complex Catholic Church in crisis have managed — for better or for worse — to pull themselves together and form a coordinated response.
Royal Commission: exploring the task of rebuilding and renewal for Australia’s Christian churches
The conference Health and Integrity in Churches and Ministry calls for a ‘reformation’ of Australia’s churches following Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Participating churches were the Catholic Church (and Catholic Religious Orders), the Anglican Church, the Uniting Church, Churches of Christ and members of the Salvation Army along with representatives of other Christian denominations.
Royal Commission: Catholic Church will not break seal of confession
The Catholic Church has not accepted the royal commission’s recommendation to break the seal of confession regarding child sex abuse, arguing it impinges on religions liberties. Almost nine months after the findings were handed down, the Catholic Church has delivered its formal reply rejecting one of the commission’s key recommendations.
Buddhism: Sexual Misconduct leads to closure of Centres
The leadership of Against the Stream Meditation Society sent a letter to its community announcing that founder Noah Levine was found to have “more likely than not” “violated the Third Precept of its own Teacher’s Code of Ethics, namely, “to avoid creating harm through sexuality,” with multiple women, and that the organisation’s centers would be shutting down.
Pope Francis condemns church sex abuse in response to new revelations in US
Pope Francis has issued a letter to Catholics around the world condemning the “crime” of sexual abuse committed by priests — and its cover-up — and demanding accountability.
The Vatican issued the three-page letter on Monday in response to new revelations in the US of decades of misconduct by the Catholic Church.
The Pope begged forgiveness for the pain suffered by victims and said lay Catholics must be involved in any effort to root out abuse and cover-up.
A Rabbi writes: An open letter to my Roman Catholic friends
“You, my Catholic friends, deserve the good church. So does the world.” Rabbi Jeff Salkin on the new report of three hundred Roman Catholic priests sexually abusing a thousand children – and how Roman Catholics can hold onto their faith.
