Sexual abuse in the church.

Rape, pedophilia  sexual abuse are wrong, inexcusable and have no place in the church. Yet recent events clearly show that these things were present not only in the church but in the leadership structures of the church i.e. the clergy.

The Federal government's announcement of a Royal Commission into this matter is long overdue and we can anticipate that the pain inside the church will only increase before it subsides, as the public becomes more aware of what has been happening on church properties for years; in some cases without restraint and without fear of prosecution.

The Royal Commission will be a watershed of pain for the Australian church. Reputation and public perceptions will be damaged as the church and other public bodies are forced to listen to the litany of pain and suffering that will be laid at their feet by those who suffered abuse at the hands of those who should have known better, and of whom we should have expected and received better!

It should be of major concern to us that we are now at the point where we are forced to deal with this issue in the public forum because we would not or could not deal with it ourselves. The facts are that the church has been perceived to be unsafe and the government has acted accordingly.

It needs to be clearly stated here that the majority of Christians abhor such practices and are innocent of wrong doing, but because a minority of the leadership is in question; everyone is perceived to be a suspect.

There are several issues that I think the Royal Commission will have to face. One is that it is only in recent times that laws have made it easy for victims to safely tell of their experiences. 30 years ago such complaints would not have been received and the victims would have been seen as trouble makers or perhaps labelled as mentally unstable. So it has taken the law a long time to provide a platform for justice. Similarly it has taken the law a long time to grow the teeth with which to deal with the perpetrators. So the victims of the 1950s would have had less opportunity and less protection than those who were abused last week. Clearly law makers need to apologize for their oversight.

Another issue that the church will have to face is how is it that things could come to this? What has been identified as being endemic in some areas of the church has been handled badly to say the least.

One can understand that the church was trying to delicately balance several issues at the one time; such as the presence of sexual sin in the clergy, the grace of God to forgive, the reputation of the church with the general public and the need for justice for the victims. However, the inner handling of the these matters seems to have been done very badly.

Clearly for years the church has needed help with this problem but has not sought answers or even owned up to its occurrence or presence. Now we are faced with the forced fessing up and confrontation with the problem in the form of a Royal Commission and one can only assume that in the coming months the church in some

sections of the community will be perceived as being more irrelevant and it of touch than it ever was in real life because it has not addressed this issue in the past.

What is more the shame is that the name of Jesus is going to be sullied because of the actions and in actions of the church, and the only ones who are going to make good doubt of this are the lawyers who are already lining up for a piece of the action. In this sense the church is exposing Jesus to public ridicule.

I love Jesus and I love His church, but I see nothing but public pain for sometime. The bottom line is that no person who comes to Jesus for help should be exposed to a dangerous or unsafe situation. Now is the time for action. The church needs to be made a safe haven now not after the Royal Commission.

Policies and structures need to put in place whereby rape, paedophilia, sexual abuse, physical abuse, spiritual abuse, are rooted out of the church. Jesus came to give life not take it away from the vulnerable and weak. Reportable offenses need to be reported and not dealt with in house. In house treatment of offenses does not allow transparency and erodes public confidence. We need to raise the bar, be seen to be taking action and to be dealing with the sin that so easily entangles us.

Recovery from the discoveries of the Royal Commission will not be overnight but it can be shortened if we show true sorrow for the sins of the past, deal with the sin in our midst and become the safe haven we were made to be.

If we want out voice heard on issues such as sex trafficking and justice for poor communities then we had better make sure that sexual abuse has no place in our church, otherwise we are just the hypocrites that the world already thinks we are.

This Royal Commission may be the God's way of overturning the money changes in his Temple in preparation for all He wants us to walk in and to do in the years that lie ahead.

I