Article for Concerned Catholics Meeting - 22 March 2018.

Prayer gathering at St Matthew’s in Page
Over the past two years, a child protection subcommittee authorised by the then St Matthew’s Parish Pastoral Council in Page in Canberra (now part of the South Belconnen Parish) has been working to find a way for the parish to respond to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, and to acknowledge our own parish history. 

From the early 1990s, people have come forward with stories of sexual abuse they suffered as children in the parish in the 1970s. A Healing Mass was held in the parish in 1994 in response to these stories, but there has been no ongoing or permanent sign for these people and their families that their pain is remembered, or that the parish stands with them. 

As we know through the process of the Royal Commission, people who have been abused say that one of the most important things for them is that their stories of abuse are acknowledged and believed. 

After meeting and discussing this issue with people in the parish, in the Archdiocese, around Australia, and looking into responses in other countries, the subcommittee presented a proposal to the Parish Pastoral Council in December last year. The various parts of the proposal are designed to follow on from the Liturgy of Lament and Hope that was conducted in the Archdiocese in April 2017.

As the first major part of this proposal, there will be a Prayer Gathering to remember and acknowledge the people who have come forward with their stories of sexual abuse in the then parish of St Matthew’s. 

The gathering will be held on Sunday 8 April at 3pm at St Matthew’s Church in Page and will be open to all people who wish to attend.

The gathering will take the form of a prayer service, followed by the planting of a weeping cherry tree and the blessing of a plaque. The tree is deciduous and has been chosen specifically to reflect the great sadness of the abuse and the hope of healing. The tree will also bear white flowers in Spring to signify the innocence of the children and hope for the future. 

The purpose of this prayer gathering is to create a space in the garden at St Matthews Church Page where people who told their stories of sexual abuse can be assured they have been heard and acknowledged. It is also a space where families and friends of those children can feel remembered. The space will be an ongoing sign to the general parish community and others, that the betrayals and failures of the past will not be forgotten, nor repeated.

Other parts of the sub committee’s proposal include: a special liturgy on an annual basis to remember the people who suffered abuse, and their families, and regularly remembering them in our Prayers of Intercession. The parish will also actively support the Archdiocese’s plans to ensure abuse survivors and their families get the assistance they need to manage ongoing consequences of the abuse, and to ensure children and other vulnerable people are never hurt again in our parishes.