One of the world’s most prominent and respected experts in child safeguarding has described ways in which Australia is leading the charge in the protection of minors from abuse. Source: The Catholic Weekly.
Fr Hans Zollner SJ, founder and director of the Institute of Anthropology at the Pontifical Gregorian University, is in Australia at the invitation of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, Catholic Religious Australia, Australian Catholic Safeguarding Limited and the Australian Catholic University.
A psychologist and psychotherapist, Fr Zollner was a founding member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors and has shaped the Church’s response to safeguarding matters in recent decades.
Addressing a fundraising lunch in Sydney for the people of the Ukraine hosted by Cardinal Mykola Bychok, Fr Zollner spoke of Australia’s “very supportive” attitude to safeguarding.
“The work being done here in terms of research is extraordinary,” Fr Zollner said. “I don’t think any other country has invested in research in the area of studies on children maltreatment and so forth as Australia.”
He also spoke of his admiration for the work of Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, saying that Australia is “the leading country in terms of safety, especially for children.”
Fr Zollner’s keynote address focused on the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults in the context of war and challenged every person in attendance to play their role in accompanying those who had been victims of trauma.
“Let me say one thing where I think the Church can do a lot for all those who have been harmed in this war, in Ukraine, in every war, in every traumatic situation, also for survivors of clergy sexual abuse,” he said.
“The Church needs to step up to a community responsibility in the accompaniment. We will never, ever get close to the number of trauma specialists and trauma-informed carers that we will need to work with all the people in the world who are traumatised. We will never get close to that. Forget about it.
“We don’t have the resources. We don’t have the personnel. Therefore, we need to be creative in finding another way in which a community takes care of those who have been harmed in our midst, either by us ourselves, communities, or by others from outside.”
FULL STORY
Australia leading on safeguarding (By Monica Doumit, The Catholic Weekly)
