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The news of Cardinal George Pell’s conviction on historical child sexual abuse charges has shocked many across Australia and around the world.

As we have said on many occasions, “… as a Church we should not rest until every abuse story has been exposed and justice served, and in this process there is enormous hurt for those who are part of Church.” There should be transparency and fair trial where everyone is equal. None of us would deny that the abuse reports are absolutely abhorrent and that every member of the Church should be sickened and saddened.

This was evident in the statement from Archbishop Mark Coleridge, President of The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, and also in the letter from Bishop Gregory O’Kelly, Apostolic Administrator of Adelaide and Bishop of Port Pirie, has written a letter to all the faithful members of the Archdiocese and Diocese. The link to the statement and letters can be found here. 

We offer our support and prayers for all those who have been abused and their loved ones, and we commit ourselves anew to doing everything possible to ensure that the Church is a safe place for all, especially the young and the vulnerable. This is underlined in the Commitment Statement from Leaders of the Catholic Church in Australia, which was made to the Royal Commission Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse 

As a Principal of a Catholic School community, I reflect on the message for me during the commencement of Lent.  I have always said that my most important job as Principal is to keep children, adolescents, staff and parents safe in our community. And when this is achieved our individuals and as a community we thrive and shine. So these events reinforce my commitment to ensure that our people, structures and processes at Tenison Woods College allow the voice of all to be heard so that all may feel heard, respected and ultimately safe.    

Our Assistant Principal Religious Identity and Mission, Michelle Coote, wrote to staff last week and captured wonderfully the reality of our situation at Tenison Woods College: 

“As a people of hope we also acknowledge that our God would want us to see that there is a brighter future ahead for the Church. As educators we are called to be the voice of hope amidst the hurt, the voice of the voiceless and a model of the type of love Jesus showed, the voice of positivity amidst the negativity and the face of God to those we encounter. We are in a privileged position to encounter staff, families and students “being Church” for each other and for the world every single day and so amidst the turmoil we have a responsibility to be ensuring that all the stories of the Church continue to be heard as representing the Catholic Church – not only the ones that make the media. If everyone bunkers down and is afraid to be courageously Catholic, the light of all those who are doing great work in the name of the Church will be dimmed to a point where it fails to be the beacon of hope we need it to be for those who are the Church of the present and future.

On a daily basis, we are privileged to work in an arm of the Catholic Church that is overwhelmingly positive – Catholic Education. Many Catholics (and non-Catholics) are not so fortunate and are bombarded with only the negative, and at times it will be important for us to have some tough conversations and to remind others that the Church is bigger than individuals. We are surrounded by young people who are filled with hope and proud to be Catholic because of the good they see being done by everyday people, as well as the vast majority of clergy who acknowledge that we are a Church, in despair, but with a hope-filled future ahead if the process of listening, dialogue and justice continues to take place amongst the people.”

So as a Catholic School community during Lent the Project Compassion message of giving Lent 100% and the reminder of Pope Francis that “the future does have a name… and its name is hope” has never been more poignant than in these times.  As we nurture our relationship with our God through personal preparation, prayer and care for others, we in fact build and reclaim our preferred Church and are, as Mahatma Gandhi invoked, the change that we wish to see in the world. I look with hope and confidence as this Lent helps us become the community that our God is inviting us to be.

David Mezinec | Principal

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