There’s always been a thing or two shrouded in mystery regarding things happening against children at the hands of the so-called fatherly figures at the church. It’s not a new revelation. For the longest time, devout and so-called religious figures are known to have had a hand in dismaying the little young innocent lives.
And perhaps, amongst the biggest proof regarding something horrific happening regarding children’s exploitation at the hands of fatherly figures such as bishops emerged recently in Australia when Archbishop Philip Wilson, the highest-ranking Catholic official was found guilty at Adelaide of having tried to cover up the involvement of a priest in the sexual exploitation of the children.
For the charges levelled against him, Archbishop Philip Wilson has been asked to serve 12-months in detention in a prison in Australia. This is a rather shocking incident that would’ve taken the living daylights out of people. For the longest-possible time, Archbishop Philip Wilson has been a revered figure all over Australia and this deplorable behaviour has rocked the cradle, so to speak.
At this moment, Archbishop Philp Wilson has been charged for his failure to report sexual exploitation against children, that it is believed, may have happened right under his nose, although committed by another priest- Jim Fletcher.
Now, here’s the most surprising part about a long-standing investigation. As soon as the accusations of a criminal, sadistic nature became true, Archbishop Philip Wilson decided to give up his duties. But that said, while he gave up his duties, he hasn’t resigned from his post. He’s simply refused to resign from his official post. While the matter that is spreading across the entire continent like a hot new wave took place way back- in the 1970s- a final judgement regarding the unwanted episode has only been reached recently.
But in lines with the legendary ruling being reached, there’s also a wave of optimism in Australia. One of the survivors of the sexual abuse- Peter Gogarty- has exclaimed with enthusiasm, “We have made history in Australia.” Of all the media channels covering this high-profile involvement of the church being at the wrong end of the spectrum in regards to molesting young innocent children, one of the leading media outlets has been ABC News Australia.
Inside hours of the landmark verdict reached Down Under, the following was shared by the media channel-There were no immediate indications on Tuesday that the archbishop would resign. Bishop Greg O’Kelly, who was appointed to administer the Adelaide archdiocese after Archbishop Wilson gave up his duties, said in a statement that his role had not changed.
But truth be told, it wasn’t that easy to reach a verdict in this case. After all, this has been achieved, after months and months of efforts by the Australian states that were required to pass laws that required priests to alert the authorities in the wake of being told about child sexual offences in the confessional.
The leading authorities that have been responsible for passing the landmark judgement are the State of South Australia and Australian Captial Territory. What was surprising, however, was that the state of New South Wales had delayed a vote on a similar law, while the Western Australian government has accepted the idea in principle.
So effectively, what this tells us that when it comes to reaching the matter of justice in an important case, Australian authorities would stop at nothing even if that means rocking the foundation of what’s in effect, the highly-placed Church and its torchbearers, including- the Priests and the Archbishop.
But after the South Australia law passed, Bishop O’ Kelly said that the law would not affect, in any way, the South Australian Catholic Church.