Every Australian Christian should read this book. An outrageous claim? Then read on.

Most Christians rightly react to the idea of child sexual abuse with abhorrence. At the same time, they often have difficulty really believing that it happens commonly, especially in the church.

There are numerous questions that Christians ask when sexual abuse within the church is raised. The most common include ‘How can Christians abuse?’, ‘Does it happen often?’, ‘Why don’t children tell?’, and ‘Shouldn’t Christians who were abused forgive and forget?’
In this courageous book, warmly commended in the foreword by Archbishop Peter Jensen and published with the support of the Diocese of Sydney’s Professional Standards Unit, Professor Patrick Parkinson addresses these and many other questions.

Professor Parkinson has provided Australian Christians with a relevant, widely researched analysis of the complex issues surrounding the sexual abuse of children within the church.
Child Sexual Abuse and the Churches contains important factual information that church members need to understand if they are to be sensitive to survivors of this crime, whether they be among their friends, family or congregational members.

This is absolutely necessary if Christians are to be agents of healing rather than unwitting participants in further abuse.

Chapters on the nature and prevalence, the perpetrators, the process of victimisation and the effects of sexual abuse on the ongoing life of a child are an essential, and a confronting, read.

Topics such as consent and sexual relations between adults and young teenagers as well as the controversial area of memory are addressed.

Discussion on ministers who sin in this area, and around disclosure, the legal process and making churches safer for children, conclude the book.

The greatest service given to the church by this book is, in my view, the central chapters on ‘The Struggle of Faith’ and ‘Forgiveness’.

Much damage is done to suffering people by well-meaning Christians whose understanding of the Bible in this area is simplistic or ill-informed. Professor Parkinson addresses these with a thoughtful and insightful approach, which is of enormous assistance in the practical application of Scripture.

Christians often promote the family and, by extension, the church family as the model of Christian living.  Yet we in the churches are usually silent about the darker aspects of family life such as the abuse of women and children. In this book Professor Parkinson is not afraid to speak out.

We Christians must do more than pray about this subject.  May we have the courage to read this book, and to live out its many lessons.

Helen Blake

Helen Blake is a counsellor in private practice in Sydney, and is the Chair of the Association of Personal Counsellors.