Truth Justice and Healing Council holds first meeting
Sydney, 20 April 2013:The Truth Justice and Healing Council of the Australian
Bishops’ Conference held its first meeting in Sydney earlier this week with discussions
ranging across document procurement for the Royal Commission, systematic issues related
to the protection of children and future communications about the Council’s work and
the Commission’s progress. Francis Sullivan, CEO of the Council, said it was pleasing
to take the first official step as a group and to get down to work. “We are fortunate
to have an extremely experienced and diverse group of men and women on the Council
to guide our work,” Sullivan said. The Truth Justice and Healing Council has been
established by the Catholic Church to help the Church response to the Royal Commission
into the Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Its role is to oversee the
Church’s engagement with the Commission, to develop new policies to protect young
people and to ensure the Church responds to any future complaints appropriately with
justice, putting the needs of victims first.
“Through our 13 members we have
expertise in child sexual abuse and its impact, including trauma, mental illness and
suicide.” After initial introductions the Council focused on how the Catholic Church
achieves its aim of working with the Royal Commission in a spirit of openness, transparency
and compassion. The Council heard a detailed presentation on the complex document
procurement process of the Royal Commission. It also discussed the best way to continually
communicate, engage and inform the Catholic and Australian community on its work and
the progress of the Commission. “While there is a lot of difficult work ahead of us
the Council members are committed to helping the church approach the Royal Commission
with openness, courage and humility to enable reconciliation and lasting healing to
take place,” Mr Sullivan said. Source: