'I believe you and I will care for you': After the Royal Commission
So big has been the impact of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that one denomination, Anglican, in this part of Australia — the Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn — has paid out four million dollars to victims over the past three years.
Without alarm, the man who was until Easter Anglican Bishop of the Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn told me the compensation costs would only increase.
We conducted an ‘exit interview’ in the weeks before he stepped down.
“What we want to do is be generous and kind and Christian,” he told me. “We've got facility with our various agencies to draw down money when necessary.”
Stuart Robinson is in no doubt that a national redress scheme is essential, but says it’s just one approach. “Parallel to that, we will be working with people for whom that won't work,” he says. “A one size fits all approach is not the best - there have to be different entry points for people to be cared for.”
“We are working with individuals in a way that is victim-centred. We are saying, ‘We are pleased that you have come forward, your story grieves us. How might we work with you in addressing your needs now and into the future?”
It’s a refreshing and, for some, a surprising response.
The Royal Commission took up at least a third of Robinson’s time as bishop which lasted almost a decade (from January 2009 to the end of March this year when he retired). It took a personal toll. Over a cuppa in his unusually small office in Civic, Robinson described sobering moments.
“I remember a man sitting in this office who'd flown over from another state. He had not shared with his wife what had happened. With tears pouring down his face, he shared a horrendous story and my response was to say, ‘I believe you and I will care for you’. He said: 'that's all I need, the fact you have heard me and believe me. That's all I was looking for'. That man has been restored to a community of faith, and they are offering him counselling and care.”
“His wife told me that explained all of the problems they had been having over the past 40 years. If only he could have shared it, their lives would have so much different.”
In the wake of the Royal Commission there is a strong argument for an external and independent policing body to monitor the activities of churches and organisations responsible for the care and protection of children and young people. Robinson has backed the idea. “If we can agree on terms of reference, I think that is absolutely essential,” Robinson told me.
It would need to have consultants who understand the diverse cultures of different denominations and it would need to be alert to the signals and able to sustain reform when enthusiasm within the churches died down.
It would need to break down dysfunctional cultures. Culture, by its nature, is hard to see. Yet repeated instances of abuse have helped illuminate patterns.
Systems can help, but it’s also a matter of institutions re-engaging with their primary purpose and reminding themselves of what it is. Caring for people and (for Christian churches) being true to the calling of Jesus ‘to love one’s neighbour as oneself; would be part of it. Without getting back to first principles, systems will take over and institutions will return to where they were.
For the most part, leaders don’t tackle the hard stuff. It's too big, too difficult and much of the time they don’t feel they can change things anyway.
A management and bureaucratic approach to this will end up with bureaucratic and managerial outcomes. Creating and delivering ethically resilient cultures requires money, practice, being honest about the limitations of human effort and an awareness of the wider culture’s influence to correct and corrupt.
Robinson, who has returned to Sydney to take up a role as rector of a suburban parish, says he’s observed a change in the way the public engages him, essentially with less affection and trust. “The deference that clergymen (and I stress 'men') once experienced in conducting business from shopping to taking services to public events is no longer there. It's probably no bad thing.”
Indeed. All institutions and leaders shamed by the abuse inquiry - as with the Banking Royal Commission that has highlighted systemic institutional misconduct - ought to have the grace to see the Commission's work as a gift that will keep on giving if they are vigilant in testing their purpose and community expectations.
First published in The Canberra Times and The Age, April 28, 2018
Without alarm, the man who was until Easter Anglican Bishop of the Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn told me the compensation costs would only increase.
We conducted an ‘exit interview’ in the weeks before he stepped down.
“What we want to do is be generous and kind and Christian,” he told me. “We've got facility with our various agencies to draw down money when necessary.”
Stuart Robinson is in no doubt that a national redress scheme is essential, but says it’s just one approach. “Parallel to that, we will be working with people for whom that won't work,” he says. “A one size fits all approach is not the best - there have to be different entry points for people to be cared for.”
“We are working with individuals in a way that is victim-centred. We are saying, ‘We are pleased that you have come forward, your story grieves us. How might we work with you in addressing your needs now and into the future?”
It’s a refreshing and, for some, a surprising response.
The Royal Commission took up at least a third of Robinson’s time as bishop which lasted almost a decade (from January 2009 to the end of March this year when he retired). It took a personal toll. Over a cuppa in his unusually small office in Civic, Robinson described sobering moments.
“I remember a man sitting in this office who'd flown over from another state. He had not shared with his wife what had happened. With tears pouring down his face, he shared a horrendous story and my response was to say, ‘I believe you and I will care for you’. He said: 'that's all I need, the fact you have heard me and believe me. That's all I was looking for'. That man has been restored to a community of faith, and they are offering him counselling and care.”
“His wife told me that explained all of the problems they had been having over the past 40 years. If only he could have shared it, their lives would have so much different.”
In the wake of the Royal Commission there is a strong argument for an external and independent policing body to monitor the activities of churches and organisations responsible for the care and protection of children and young people. Robinson has backed the idea. “If we can agree on terms of reference, I think that is absolutely essential,” Robinson told me.
It would need to have consultants who understand the diverse cultures of different denominations and it would need to be alert to the signals and able to sustain reform when enthusiasm within the churches died down.
It would need to break down dysfunctional cultures. Culture, by its nature, is hard to see. Yet repeated instances of abuse have helped illuminate patterns.
Systems can help, but it’s also a matter of institutions re-engaging with their primary purpose and reminding themselves of what it is. Caring for people and (for Christian churches) being true to the calling of Jesus ‘to love one’s neighbour as oneself; would be part of it. Without getting back to first principles, systems will take over and institutions will return to where they were.
For the most part, leaders don’t tackle the hard stuff. It's too big, too difficult and much of the time they don’t feel they can change things anyway.
A management and bureaucratic approach to this will end up with bureaucratic and managerial outcomes. Creating and delivering ethically resilient cultures requires money, practice, being honest about the limitations of human effort and an awareness of the wider culture’s influence to correct and corrupt.
Robinson, who has returned to Sydney to take up a role as rector of a suburban parish, says he’s observed a change in the way the public engages him, essentially with less affection and trust. “The deference that clergymen (and I stress 'men') once experienced in conducting business from shopping to taking services to public events is no longer there. It's probably no bad thing.”
Indeed. All institutions and leaders shamed by the abuse inquiry - as with the Banking Royal Commission that has highlighted systemic institutional misconduct - ought to have the grace to see the Commission's work as a gift that will keep on giving if they are vigilant in testing their purpose and community expectations.
First published in The Canberra Times and The Age, April 28, 2018
