The Sydney Diocese has taken the lead in the national Anglican Church by becoming the first diocese to adopt stringent new measures to protect children from sex abuse.
The Sydney Synod met yesterday and unanimously agreed to adopt a "Safe Ministry Check' for clergy and lay workers as well as a detailed code of conduct to monitor personal and professional behaviour. Both were drawn up by the Church's Child Protection Committee over a three-year process involving extensive consultation at a national level.
The move was a test case for the new measures, which the General Synod recommended each diocese adopt when it met earlier this month. The General Synod urged each of the Anglican Church of Australia's 23 dioceses to accept the uniform procedures for dealing with sex abuse and misconduct by clergy and church workers. It also issued an apology to abuse victims. Each diocese is expected to adopt the recommendations locally when their annual Synods meet in the next 12 to 18 months.
Included in the code of conduct, called Faithfulness in Service, is the expectation that clergy and church workers adhere to faithfulness in marriage and chastity in singleness. It is the first time the Sydney Diocese has adopted a formal code of conduct for non-ordained workers.
The new measures followed intense media attention in recent years that exposed the Australian Church's failure to care adequately for victims of abuse.
The Sydney Synod passed two motions relating to child protection. The first endorsed the General Synod's recommendations, and requested its Professional Standards Board to further develop policies for implementing safe ministry practices in parishes and diocesan organisations. It adopted a diocesan "Safe Ministry Policy Statement' that involves carefully recruiting and training its church workers, responding promptly to concerns raised about their behaviour, offering pastoral care to any person who has suffered abuse and supervising known abusers.
Garth Blake SC, a member of the Child Protection Committee, said victims of abuse " some who were in attendance at the Synod " have shown courage in speaking out even though they have been disbelieved, had their pain minimised and been treated with pastoral insensitivity.
"Yet they have not been silenced, they have persevered, demanding justice and action that our Diocese will be a safe place for children," Mr Blake said.
"The fundamental challenge we face is to understand the devastating impact of sexual abuse of the children who have been exploited for the sexual gratification of their abusers. These things have happened in our Diocese because we have let them happen. What many of these survivors and parents want is an assurance that what happened to them will not happen to others.
"Making our Diocese safe for children is not just a legal responsibility, but a matter of obedience to the commands of Christ."
Jenni Woodhouse, the diocesan chaplain for abuse victims, told the Synod that current figures show most victims in Sydney Diocese were 10 to 13 year-old boys when they were abused.
Most abusers were not clergy, but half were volunteer church workers and a quarter were school teachers. Mrs Woodhouse said the next largest group of victims were adult women who were abused by older men in established leadership positions in the church. Eighty per cent of complaints made by women were against someone employed by the Diocese, and 52 per cent were against mature clergymen who had a leadership role in a parish.
The Synod also issued a statement of apology to victims of abuse in out of home care institutions owned by the Anglican Church. The statement responded to a Senate inquiry tabled in Federal Parliament in August that detailed horrific violence and abuse suffered by children in church-run, government and private institutional homes last century.
Anglicare Diocese of Sydney apologised for the harm suffered by some children in its homes. Archdeacon Geoff Huard, a member of the Anglicare Council, told the Synod there have been a small number of complaints from people who were in out of home care and one significant claim is currently being investigated.
"Over 1000 children have passed through the doors of these institutions," Archdeacon Huard said. "Anglicare recognises that there may indeed have been some who received a poor level of care over the history of our institutions for which we are very sorry and we do sincerely apologise. [We are] keen to assist any who have had these experiences."
The Rev Chris Albany, Rector of St George's, Paddington, who moved the motion with Archdeacon Huard, noted that 500,000 people have left institutional care in the last 100 years. "It's not universally a bad story", Mr Albany said, "but we have to acknowledge that in some cases, it was."
The Synod resolved that the Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Peter Jensen, the Standing Committee of the Synod and Anglicare's Council will be presented with Anglicare's response to the Senate Inquiry. A report of action will be brought to the 2005 Synod.
The Synod also affirmed the work of Care Leavers Australia Network (CLAN), as well as a new pastoral care and assistance scheme that is being administered by Sydney Diocese's Professional Standards Unit.
