Abuse victims must speak: Bishop

Bunbury's Anglican Bishop says he is determined to uncover any remaining rot in his diocese in the wake of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse opening proceedings in Perth.

Anglican Bishop Allan Ewing used an open letter to the people of the Bunbury diocese to encourage victims of abuse, or people with knowledge of abuse within the church, to come forward.

The letter referred to “the tragic reality” that people had been abused by “individuals within the Anglican Church in the diocese of Bunbury”.

He wrote the letter before Easter, pinned it to the St Boniface Cathedral notice board and sent copies to his parishes.

The Rt Rev. Ewing said he hoped that with more people visiting the cathedral over the Easter period the notice would be seen ahead of the Royal Commission in Perth.

“It is likely that there are people in our region who carry the pain and hurt of abuse who feel they have not had an appropriate response from the Anglican Church, ” he wrote.

He said he was determined to name and recognise abuse.

“Sadly the church has been used on and off as a place of access and people have been abused by people in the church, that’s a reality, ” he said.

“How can you possibly compensate for the pain of the past?

“But it’s important that people feel heard, and that their hurt is acknowledged and where an apology is needed an apology is made and where it’s possible to take some action, some action is taken.”

He said he would not be surprised if more victims came forward, but would be devastated to discover more people who had lived with the pain of abuse.

“We can only deal with what we know, my hope and prayer is that we are aware of all the cases, but if there is something that we need to know, then we need to know it, ” he said.

“If that means we discover things we would rather not see, it’s distressing, it’s hurtful, but to ignore it, to turn a blind eye to it, that’s not acceptable.”

The Rt Rev. Ewing said the church had policies in place to prevent abuse happening in the future, but it would require constant vigilance.

“You hope that you’ve got enough things in place that if something does happen it’s stopped as quickly as possible and responded to as quickly as possible and the consequences are appropriate, but you’ve got to be ever vigilant, ” he said.

Anyone who has suffered abuse through either the Anglican or Catholic churches is encouraged to contact either the Anglican director of professional standards or the Catholic Towards Healing program.

The Anglican director of professional standards, Tracie Chambers-Clark can be contacted on 9425 7203.

Alternatively you can visit the Anglican website by clicking here

Information on the Catholic Towards Healing program can be found by clicking here