This week we take a look at Part Two of Communications and Media Manager James Parker’s insight into the work of leader and pioneer in child protection, Andrea Musulin.
Ms Musulin talks of dramatic changes taking place in the Catholic Archdiocese of Perth to face abuse head on and to minimise future opportunities of its re-occurence.
Police and Church
Comparing her present role to her previous work, Musulin said that the Catholic Church is a very different place to working with the Police.
“With the Police there are no grey areas. Policing is what it is. There are consequences to stepping out of line. With the Archbishop and his office the structure is clearly defined but the structure of the Church generally is not always clearly defined.
“There has to be one person that can instruct people to embrace safeguarding. It will be very important that every facet of the Church wherever it fits into the Catholic community takes this seriously and plays a full part.
“I am using the Discount Hierarchy model, which is a way of determining acceptance and resistance to a problem, to make sure this is engaged with.
“This is not something people should be told they have to do,” she went on to say.
“The Gospel tells us it’s the right thing to do – you can’t argue with this.
“The law says you will, but also morally each individual has to recognise this has to be done.
“The problem is very complex but the solution and how we deal with it is simple, but not simplistic.”
Archbishop’s Commitment and Priority
Although a challenging subject to deal with on a daily basis, Musulin spoke of what is encouraging within her present role.
“For me the greatest positive is how the Archbishop has embraced this as he has. He has left no doubt in my mind that he is committed to the role of protecting children and changing the way we look after children.
“In its own way, Catholicism can breed child sexual abuse because sex education is not taught until kids are 11 years of age. Then they are out of the risk bracket.
“The Archbishop is open to hearing what I have to say and is open to the reforms that may be needed. This has impressed me very much.
“He is our starting point. He has given me a lot of encouragement and freedom and is, in all honesty, much more dedicated to getting this right than I first thought he would be.
“The Church has gone to great lengths to get me in this role which shows commitment. I thought this may just be another task that needed to be done rather than it actually being a priority, which it clearly is for the Archdiocese of Perth. That has been very positive.”
A Better Church
Speaking of her engagement with the wider Archdiocese, Musulin said that she was encouraged in her engagement with the Church, in so much as those she is working with, both clergy and people, “get it”.
“Most of them get it and most of them are very positive and see what I am doing as a way forward. Most of them see that this is an opportunity to make the Church a better Church.
“The topic we are having to face is a negative one but what we are trying to do is to change it and find a positive. Child sexual abuse is not something new that has happened since 1930. It has happened for hundreds of years and has always been there.
“We have never stared this in the eye and said, “now we are going to deal with it” but I am confident now that we are, especially in the Archdiocese of Perth where it is well and truly being dealt with.
“Another positive for me,” said Musulin, “is the autonomy which the Archbishop has given to me. I feel free to say things as they need to be said and I have not sugar coated matters.
“From the responses I have had back from clergy training, they have appreciated this approach.”
Child Safe Organisations
Aside from the focus on safeguarding, Musulin spoke of other training days that have occurred across the Archdiocese of Perth in recent months.
“The first of the 12 Standards is to create awareness and to change past cultures. Part of my brief is to help staff who are presently engaged within the Archdiocese to be on top of things.
“Ongoing training, awareness and education in this field is going to lead towards Child Safe Organisations. This is very important.
“There are so many different aspects to the aftermath of abuse. There is the trauma aspect, the mental illness aspect, the practicalities, the theory, the reactive and the proactive and how they all work together. That is where my work comes together with the Professional Standards Office. Their work is reactive but my work is proactive, working side by side to deal with the hurt that has already happened but to also prevent it from happening in the future.”
Musulin spoke of being encouraged by rooms filled with local professionals who recently met at St Mary’s Cathedral in Perth to better understand mental health issues in the context of dealing with abuse survivors.
“Although many of the cases that Towards Healing have been dealing with are historical cases, largely in part due to the Royal Commission, moving forward I think we are actually going to see more of the current – or the more recent – cases of child sex abuse cases once we start empowering people to talk about it. This happens once we start changing the culture of people dealing with abuse and when we start listening to people’s stories.
“Once you change that culture, you create an openness about abuse where parents and children will feel they can come and talk. So, I am confident that we will deal with this topic better than it has been dealt with in the past.”
Aside from training and educating ordained clergy, Musulin spoke of the additional tasks she is undertaking.
“I will shortly be working with a professor of counselling to deliver training to all trainee priests in the two Archdiocesan seminaries.”
Educating children
Once she has established the training of Safeguarding Officers and a culture of growing awareness within parishes, Musulin says she will turn her attention towards taking protective behaviours education into Catholic schools and educating children.
“We need to make children aware that abuse only ever happens as a result of opportunity.
“Knowledge is power. Power lessens opportunity and that’s how we have to look at it. And for years we have not given knowledge to the children.
“In the past, Catholicism has not allowed for that knowledge to be transferred. The time is now right to start, without removing our children’s innocence. Knowledge is to be given age appropriately, done developmentally appropriately, and without in any way removing a child’s innocence. All parents need to change the way they think as well.”
Exciting future
An air of excitement quietly wraps itself around Musulin as she explains the journey forward.
“The sheer fact that something is being done is exciting and the time is right. People are ready for it and I think people are hungry for it. There has been so much negativity.
“I think on a personal level that Pope Francis has a lot to do with this. Things work well when they are from the top down. What we are doing in Perth is a classic example of the top down.
“The inception of National Standards also excites me. I work quite solo at the moment and I am confident enough to work solo, but to have National Standards is exciting too.
“We will be issued with a policy document to tell us what to do which is breaking new ground. It is exciting that when we put all this into place, the opportunity to offend within the Catholic Church is going to be much less. We won’t be able to eradicate abuse but we can definitely lessen the opportunity. That to me is exciting.”