The Catholic Weekly 26 July 2020

catholicweekly.com.au 11 26, July, 2020 www.catholicjobsonline.com.au Find the career you deserve In recent weeks, the same disinterest from the media has been evident in two abuse-related stories about the Jehovah’s Witnesses which, if they had occurred in the Catholic Church, would have been front-page news.” lated stories about the Jeho- vah’s Witnesses which, if they had occurred in the Catho- lic Church, would have been front-page news. The first was a small story buried (to use a newspaper term) at the bottom of page 13 in The Sunday Telegraph last month. It has been alleged that since the Royal Commis- sion was announced in 2012, the Jehovah’s Witnesses has quietly restructured its legal status, sold off its assets and moved the proceeds offshore. The Jehovah’s Witnesses re- ported $150 million in income since 2014, and that it was op- erating at a surplus in 2015-17. But during the past few years, more than $100 million of this has been sent offshore as aid and donations, and the group Coverage varies on abuse – but why? A number of years ago, Fairfax jour- nalist Jonathan Holmes defended the sustained criticism on the Church and other institutions that had perpetrated and cov- ered up child sexual abuse as reasonable, and something that we should not character- ise as attacks nor complain about as unjust. He had a point. Sometimes, we deserve a whack in the me- dia by journalists who are only doing their job. I know I have written this many times before, but Jesus told us that those who knew the master’s will and did not do it will be punishedmore severely than those who did not (Luke 12:47-48). If we be- lieve that the Church holds the fullness of the truth, and we do, then we also believe that we will be held to a higher standard by God. Why not by the media as well? While I know this to be true, a couple of recent stories about the Jehovah’s Witnesses really brought to light just how unbalanced the media report- ing is when it comes to the Catholic Church. For those who don’t re- member, the Jehovah’s Wit- nesses had the worst rates of child sexual abuse and cover up of any institution examined by the Royal Commission. The Jehovah’s Witnesses told the Royal Commission that they had 1,006 alleged perpetrators of child sexual abuse between 1950 and 2016, relating to at least 1,800 alleged victims. Half of the perpetrators had confessed to their crimes, but not a single one had been reported to the police by the time the Royal Commission began. While these are numerical- ly lower than the 4,445 com- plaints of abuse made against 1,880 alleged perpetrators in Catholic institutions, the Cath- olic population in Australia is and always has been about 80 times greater than the popu- lation of Jehovah’s Witness- es. Today, there are about 5.3 million Catholics in Australia, compared to about 68,000 Je- hovah’s Witnesses. Despite this, the Jehovah’s Witnesses received scant at- tention fromboth the media and the Royal Commission it- self. The Royal Commission’s “wrap up” hearing for the Je- hovah’s Witnesses lasted just a few hours and got very lit- tle media coverage, while the equivalent “wrap up” hear- ing for the Catholic Church spanned three weeks and was reported on widely and prom- inently. In recent weeks, the same disinterest from the media has been evident in two abuse-re- is reporting it has been oper- ating at a loss over the last two years. The effect of this is that there is no money available in Australia to meet the esti- mated $132 million liability it will have to survivors of abuse under the National Redress Scheme. One week later, the Jeho- vah’s Witnesses confirmed to Channel 10’s The Project that it would not be joining the Na- tional Redress Scheme. In a statement to The Proj- ect , the Jehovah’s Witnesses argued that they did not have to join the redress scheme designed for institutions, be- cause they do not have the same institutional settings as other faiths, such as the oper- ation of orphanages or board- ing schools, youth groups or hospitals. In its story, The Project re- porters did not seek an expla- nation as to why the Jehovah’s Witnesses had such high rates of abuse notwithstanding the lack of institutional care of children, nor did it raise any questions at all about the financial scandals that ap- peared in the paper just the week before. Dare I say that if it were any Catholic institution, wewould have had rolling coverage,me- dia campedoutside StMary’s Cathedral, and countless talk- back hours dedicated to the evils of theChurch, not tomen- tionpublic threatsmade by pol- iticians andmotions condemn- ing theChurch andher leaders passed in every house of par- liament. But apart froma fewsmall stories, the silence fromall cor- nerswas deafening. None of thismeans that the Churchdidn’t deserve the crit- icism it receivedover the abuse scandal. Of coursewe did. As I saidbefore, the Lordholds us to a higher standard, sowe should holdourselves to one, and in- vite others to aswell. But it wouldbe great if we could also see evenmore than a veneer of media interest into the failures of others. After all, their survi- vors deserve justice aswell. Jehovah’s Witnesses wait to offer passers-by promotional literature outside the British Museum. PHOTO: PHILAFRENZY/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, CC There’s no media frenzy aimed at non-Catholic institutions T o the point with Monica Doumit Ph: 4620 8822 or 9708 6972 www.KenneallysFunerals.com.au ‘ Servicing greater Sydney and the Macarthur area’ Why choose Kenneally’s  Servicing the Catholic Community  Family owned and operated  After funeral bereavement support available  Tailored options for your personal finances  Affordable pre-paid and pre-arranged funerals Prompt and Personalised Care