Church sees role in the aid of abuse victims

child abuse should be solved through counselling, forgiveness and must also go through the judicial process so that there is justice done for the victims, says the general secretary of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, Fr Victor Roche.
Roche made this statement after Chief Censor Steven Mala condemned the practice of child abusers involving the church in reconciliation processes to excape prosecution.
Mala said that perpetrators used this practice to escape being reported to police by families of the victims. However, Roche said that the church provided counselling for the children as they needed to go through counselling to be able to forgive in order to start their lives.
He said the church supported the judicial process involved and wanted justice for the victims.
“These two process must work together to help the victims. Children need counselling and forgiveness is the biggest step of moving on,” he said.
Roche said the process of counselling and forgiveness and the process of law and order worked well side by side.