To: Annette Cunliffe JohnB - Re: Your email re the press

Description: > Your email about the

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: JohnB - Re: Your email re the press
Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2013 17:47:54 +1000
From: contact@tfyqa.biz <contact@tfyqa.biz>
To: Annette Cunliffe <annette.cunliffe@rscoffice.com>

Annette,

On 6/06/2013 2:55 PM, Annette Cunliffe wrote:
> Dear John
> Your email about the "spin" put on by the Press.
> As you know Bishop Robinson has real concern for victims and "using" 
them would be the furthest thing from his mind.

I get to question if doing something for victims is also furthest from 
his mind, in doing that I get to wonder what exactly it is that the 
bishop is attempting to do for victims/survivors.

Would that include providing direct support to survivors in some manner, 
something perhaps that would change the current situation where a victim 
contacts a Catholic charity seeking support and that charity is obliged 
to refer the victim on to the bishop who in turn refers the person on to 
The Melbourne Response or Towards Healing whose failures and their plight 
that is so often cited and exploited most often drove then to attempt to 
contact other areas of the Catholic Charity sector simply in the hope 
that they would be able to continue to feed, clothe and educate their 
children or to obtain some other form of assistance.

This is problematic in a number of ways and I do not doubt that you are 
aware of the "My hands are tied" response encountered by many in this 
regard; this a process that makes victims of those who are denied access 
to services that are available to others in the community. This claim 
comes from the directive that certain matters are to be handed on to the 
bishop - often one that is seen by many to be dysfunctional and a part 
of the problem or engaged in some manner in minimizing or covering up 
past 'mistakes'.

This directive regardless of description as to its reasons for being 
this way marginalize and deny many access to Catholic services that are 
made available to others in the community. My research shows that none 
of the major Catholic charities is able to openly provide its services 
to those who identify as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse by 
Catholic clergy.

Rather than a shouted plea to the Pope would it not be more moral, just 
and effective to address this local aspect of discrimination with the 
intention of providing the full scope of available Catholic services 
within Australia to all victims of childhood sexual abuse and indeed 
other forms of abuse by clergy and the religious.

Could it dare I say even be possible for this to become a real piece of 
good work by the Catholic Church through seeing that all those hands are 
untied from this folly; after all is said and done it is these types of 
actions towards those survivors that drives the anger and the exodus 
from the Church today and caused so many to plead with the hierarchy to 
at the very least show that they can act in a humane manner.

I imagine the problem of drawing the public ire of some bishops or 
possibly the Vatican would be too great an impediment for such a notion. 
Unsurprisingly there are numerous ways the Catholic Church and Catholics 
could be privately and publicly providing such service to these victims 
of abuse else they become victimized further through being discriminated 
against in this way.

Not to add difficulty to an already difficult situation it strongly 
appears that this form of discrimination is most prevalent towards those 
who have lost faith and belief in the Catholic concept of religion; this 
raises another issue that the bishop may wish to address on a local 
level to assist in gaining an understanding for the development of a 
cogent set of problems and solutions that could be forwarded to the 
Vatican for their attention so that they can observe Catholic Charities 
really operating at a World class level and as an example of this type 
of good work as this appears to be seriously lacking right across 
Catholicism.

I understand that some may consider this as simply one of many possible 
solutions in tis area alone. The possibilities are endless when 
considering the fervor of some of those Catholic Charities in seeking 
funding and implementing real support.

I wonder if in the near future I will get to hear for the first time 
from a few, many or none of those people saying they were reached out to 
and assisted in a meaningful and caring way just like others in the 
community who are the recipients of these Catholic services.

I will continue to ask of this among communities of survivors of 
childhood sexual abuse by clergy as well as those who are survivors of 
the many other forms of abuse involving the Church for which they have 
ignored or already apologized for as support for this demographic 
appears to be lacking in those areas as well.

I will let you know immediately should I hear of something positive from 
these amongst the hundreds in those communities describing real 
assistance to survivors and those who remain victims of these abuses 
coming to them from Catholic charities or even from Catholics if I 
should hear of that. As well I will keep you updated on any information 
about Catholic Charities being proactive in this way anywhere in the 
world as I will include the seeking of feedback re that aspect in my 
communications across the globe.

Hopefully I will hear something positive in the near future in regards 
these matters from you.

rgds
JohnB
0756412311

>
> Annette Cunliffe
> CRA
>
>
> Sent from my iPhone

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