Canberra, Australia, Jun 3, 2019 / 10:19 am
Last week the Australian bishop' conference and Catholic Religious Australia adopted new standards to combat the sexual abuse of children and vulnerable adults in the wake of a 2017 report on such abuse in the country's institutions.
The National Catholic Safeguarding Standards were adopted May 30.
"These National Catholic Safeguarding Standards draw from the Child Safe Standards outlined during the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and align with the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations, but they provide additional criteria relevant to the governance of the Church," Sr. Monica Cavanagh, president of CRA, stated.
"The standards will allow Catholic entities and the public to have additional confidence in the Church's approach to addressing the tragedy of abuse and to building a culture of safety for all, especially for the young and the vulnerable."