Submission to Royal Commission: Child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church

This submission constitutes the APS response to Issues Paper 11 of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which focuses on any factors that may have contributed to the occurrence of child sexual abuse in Catholic institutions, or affected the institutional response to child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.

All child sexual abuse is a crime and a violation of the rights and trust of the child, and the spiritual, theological, and existential conflicts for the child that would be caused by such a fundamental betrayal of trust would undoubtedly be carried into adulthood.

The APS addresses the terms of reference set out by the Royal Commission and draws the Commission’s attention to a number of issues where little research has been done and that are worthy of consideration and further exploration.

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