On church & child safety from Angie

Description: A mother from Australia speaks out about the hell experienced by those downunder. Help make the world of Angies story so that more children are protected

My name is Angela Boede, my address is Maroondah Hwy Healesville Australia. My story does not only affect my state but yours.

Child safety is of the utmost importance of what I am trying to tell you but I need you to act. As children are being raped of their innocence

CHILD ABUSE : ITS A FACT

According to statistics, 14% of boys and 33% of girls will or have been molested before they turn 18 years old. These rates are extremely high, considering the amount of children that populate the world today. Children are our future, and we must make sure they make it to see the future with a clear state of mind.

I need you to act for children everywhere in Australia, Please listen to the horrific extent of child abuse throughout the world due to clergy of the catholic church, Take note they are sending these abusers to Australia, Stop Cardinal Pell from going to Ireland as I have experienced firsthand that his system fails re: the Melbourne Response, don't allow these criminals to hide from the law and bring justice back to the victims.

People need their church but they do not need child abusers to use the Catholic Church for their evil intentions, please act for the children

What are the changes we desperately need?

1. An independent and accountable investigation into the Melbourne Response System and Towards Healing which consults widely with victims, reviews cases and has access to all diocesan files regarding past and present matters concerning professional misconduct and sexual abuse by clergy and church employees.
2. All teachers to be educated in the recognition of offending behaviours including grooming and how to ensure an environment of safety for all children.
3. Appropriate awareness programs for parents covering
4. rights and responsibilities,
5. promoting the necessary, safe interactions of children with adults,
6. creating an environment of safety for discussion,
7. recognising the dynamics, sign and effects of abuse,
8. how to report and respond to concerns etc.
9. Children to participate in well researched, resilience and empowerment programs that do not entail loss of innocence but enable them to believe in their right to speak up and be heard if they are worried about bullying or feeling unsafe in their interactions with others, including trusted adults.
10. Victims and their families to be heard; acknowledged; supported/ compensated and consulted in the planning and implementing of reforms.
11. Law reform which includes
• That behaviour which forms a pattern which may constitute grooming should be reportable for investigation. (see NSW legislation)
• The grooming of a victim and his family to be a recognised part of the criminal assault.
• Removing current impediments to victims suing Churches. The organisations must be responsible by law for their priests/pastors behaviours in the same way as any employer would be.
• Clear indication to all organisations that covering up criminal offences is a crime in itself.
• All priests to be required by law to have a working with children's check in order to be able to reside and work in a parish.
• Better training for police to understand the dynamics of abuse and disclosure, as victims often do not disclose the worst of abuse until they have developed a feeling of safety and trust. This can mean that following the first interview the police might decide there is no case; they may rescind statements when they realise the effect the disclosure is having on their family.

Please read my story so you can see how important this is for all communities. We need teachers, police and all organisations that work with children to be educated in safety for children and gor them to recognise the signs that a child displays when there is something wrong but cannot speak and reacts with withdrawn behaviours or angry and lashing out behaviours, and for grooming to be recognised as a crime.

This is, to me, a distraction from fundamental questions that Pope Benedict and Cardinal Pell do not discuss, such as a few that come to mind:

• Why is the prevalence of abusers so high in the ranks of Catholic clergy?
• Do all clergy hold suitable police clearances for working with children?
• Do all clergy and all people working with children undergo regular education on the issues of abuse prevention? (After all if tradesmen need regular first-aid training, shouldn't regular training on abuse-prevention be mandatory?
• Is it right that no documentation on the scale of the abuse is provided to the community?
• Are specific institutions thoroughly investigated as happened in Ireland? (The various orphanages around Melbourne Archdiocese and particular schools such as Bathurst where multiple offenders have been convicted come to mind)
• What happens to offenders whose cases do not go through the courts, and how promptly does this happen?
• If they are not defrocked, why not?
• What spiritual support is given to victims?
• What support is given to secondary victims (family)?
12. What support is given to other indirect victims like parishes where abusers worked and preyed?
13. re victims compensated justly and proportionately for the damage done to them?
14. When Fr Barry Robinson had acknowledged that he was reported to the authorities for having a sexual relationship with a sixteen yr old boy in his care in Boston and fled to Australia and had admitted the offence to Les Tomlinson; Archbishop Hart and Peter O'Callaghan. Why wasn't he handed over to the police and charged on the offence where he clearly pleaded guilty of the act that he told his psychologist in Boston?
15. How many of the Priests that have been found guilty of inappropriate misconduct and sex abuse are still in active ministry? Thanks to the Melbourne response; and towards Healing that is set up by the church to cover up sexual abuse.
16. Make it compulsory for the National Committee for Professional Standards to keep statistics, that are available to the public, as it is now they claim it is too difficult to keep stats and they also claim it is a problem for them to decipher the Law, A sign that they should not be even trying the police are the ones to do this. (See attach) from my friend Ian Lawther

Please help me protect children

Angie

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Subject: angela ryan talk 1st letter

Hi Brian just a short note to express my gratitude to you for contacting me just after your talk with Fran Bailey, I suffer severe vision impairment which makes computer work my least favourite task and was hoping to have speech operated software installed by now, it hasn't happened. After our phone conversation I conferred with my friends who were with me at at Angela Ryan's talk (clergy sexual abuse, what we have learnt, what we are doing about it) She stated that Towards Healing handles around 250 cases per year but no statistics were kept because the dioceses are all over the place and no one had bothered to collect the data.

Brian may I humbly suggest to you that any Professional standards organisation that does not have statistics publicly available will be seen by the public as unviable. Brian there is no animosity implied or intended in this letter my main aim in life is to save kids and families from the same sort of pain and suffering my own family has been put through.

All the Best Brian.

Ian Lawther.

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Subject: RE: angela ryan talk

Dear Ian,

Thank you for this comment. It is less a case of 'not bothering' but given the independence of dioceses and especially the independence of religious orders it is not easy to have reliable national statistics. This is compounded by problems of actually defining what we mean by sexual abuse in its various forms and then groups applying the right definitions to particular facts. With what we do know there is a conscious effort to eliminate risk and to assist those affected.

Fr Brian Lucas
General Secretary
Australian Catholic Bishops Conference
G.P.O. BOX 368
CANBERRA 2601
p 02 6201 9845
f 02 6247 6083
m 0419 243 959

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