An international ecumenical conference in Melbourne last week called on Churches to take responsibility for the lifelong care and support of all those whose lives have been harmed by clerical sexual abuse.
The conference, organised to reflect on the findings of the recent Australian Royal Commission on institutional sexual abuse, was attended by heads of a number of Catholic orders, and senior members of the Salvation Army, the Anglican Church, and other Christian denominations, although no Catholic bishops attended.
The three-day “Health and Integrity in Church and Ministry” conference called on the Churches to engage in a process of “fundamental theological and interdisciplinary reflection” on the child sexual abuse crisis. A concluding statement said clericalism in all its forms should be rejected and that it was vital for the laity, and especially women, to take their rightful place in all aspects of church life, including governance.
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