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Pope's apology renews calls for PM to say sorry

24 November 2001 - Pope John Paul II's apology to Aborigines for injustices today renewed national calls for the government to say sorry to the stolen generations.

It also prompted calls for monetary compensation.

The pope today apologised to Aborigines and other indigenous people in Oceania for past injustices by the Roman Catholic Church.

"Aware of the shameful injustices done to indigenous peoples in Oceania, the Synod Fathers apologised unreservedly for the part played in these by members of the church, especially where children were forcibly separated from their families," the pontiff's internet statement said.

But it did not stir Prime Minister John Howard, who remains adamantly against an apology.

"I don't know of that possible gesture and until I do and out of deference to his Holiness I won't make a comment," Mr Howard said.

"Of course my view is unaltered."

Auxiliary Bishop for Canberra and Goulburn Pat Power said it was time for the government to listen to the church and the people on reconciliation.

"I'd hope that the government would revisit that whole issue and I think it's a matter of national shame that the government hasn't responded in a way that I believe most of the rest of the nation has," Bishop Power told ABC radio.

Bishop Power also said monetary compensation should be considered.

"If there are particular ways that monetary compensation would be helpful, then that should be looked at on a case-by-case basis and the church would support that," he said.

A Top End Aboriginal spokesman, Maurie Ryan-Japarta, said the pope should back his apology with compensation.

"The church has a lot of money and because we've been concentrating on the court cases (against the commonwealth) we have not taken on the churches," he said.

The Howard government has repeatedly refused to apologise to the stolen generations, rejecting the term and instead opting for a statement of national regret.

Federal parliament's sole indigenous senator, Australian Democrats deputy leader Aden Ridgeway, said Mr Howard must act on the pope's moral prompt.

"I also call on the federal government to consider apologising to the stolen generations," Senator Ridgeway said.

"When the highest authority in the Catholic church can apologise for its role in taking Aboriginal children from their families, what other moral prompt does the prime minister need."

The Australian Catholic Social Justice Council and National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council (NATSICC) said the pope's actions marked a new beginning in the organisation's relationship with the church.

"This is one of the most historical statements I've seen in addressing the injustices suffered by indigenous people," NATSICC chair Vicki Walker said.

Reconciliation Australia said the pontiff's apology was an important progression for Australia.

The National Sorry Day Committee also said the apology was another step towards healing and reconciliation.

Clip from The Sydney Morning Herald

Howard not swayed by Pope's apology to stolen generation

ORIETTA GUERRERA with AAP

24 November 2001- Prime Minister John Howard yesterday stood firm in his refusal to offer an apology to the stolen generation after the Catholic Church ``apologised unreservedly" for its part in the forcible removal of indigenous children from their families.

Pope John Paul II's apology, published on the Internet on Thursday, was welcomed whole-heartedly by indigenous groups, with Andrea Durbach, director of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, describing the apology as an ``extraordinary gesture". But she said Mr Howard's reluctance to apologise to Aborigines for injustices by previous governments was more extraordinary.

Mr Howard, who has spoken of a ``national regret", yesterday said he was unaware of the Pope's apology.

``I don't know of that possible gesture and until I do and out of deference to his Holiness I won't make a comment," he said.

``Of course my view is unaltered."

Aboriginal senator Aden Ridgeway called on Mr Howard to act on the Pope's moral prompt. ``When the highest authority in the Catholic Church can apologise for its role in taking Aboriginal children from their families, what other moral prompt does the Prime Minister need?"

The apology was in a report by the special Synod on Oceania, held at the Vatican in 1998. The report was signed by the Pope and addressed many areas of misconduct by clergy, including sexual abuse of children and the rape of nuns.

National Sorry Day Committee secretary John Bond said the Catholic Church should be commended for trying to right its wrongs.

But a top end Aboriginal spokesman, Maurie Ryan-Japarta, said the Pope should back his apology with compensation. ``The church has a lot of money," he said.

Melbourne lawyer David Forster, who has represented more than 60 people abused sexually by Catholic clergy, dismissed the Pope's apology as ``hollow" and ``unacceptable".

He said the church had failed to provide fair compensation to its victims.

Source: The Age

related links :

Papal Statement (Ecclesia In Oceania — 174kb text file)

Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) Aboriginal Issues - Statements & Submissions Church Leaders Take a Desert Trek to Bridge Australia's Divisions ChristianityToday.com Aborigines and the Australian Church Yuri Koszarycz National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council Pope says sorry to Aborigines November 23, 2001 - Pope John Paul II apologised to Australia's Aborigines and other indigenous peoples of Oceania for past "shameful injustices" of the Roman Catholic Church, in a message posted on the Internet yesterday.

Further information: stolen generations issues page - includes news index and external links

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