A Response to the Royal Commission
into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse 2017*
(in memoriam Anthony Foster)
Reader: We sorrow, we sorrow,
we weep:
- for all that is lost
- for all that is hurt
- for all that is shamed.
All: We ask your help, God of goodness.
We sorrow, we sorrow
we weep:
- for the cruelty
- the secrecy
- the denial.
All: We ask your help, God of goodness.
We sorrow, we sorrow
we weep-
- for what was known
- for what was said
- for what was done.
All: We ask your help, God of goodness.
We sorrow, we sorrow,
we weep:
- for what was not known
- for what was not said
- for what was not done.
All: We ask your help, God of goodness.
We lament:
- the power that exploited
- the power that evaded
- the power that excused.
All: Hear our cries, gracious God.
We lament:
- the innocence robbed
- the fragility crushed
- the vulnerability harmed.
All: Hear our cries, gracious God.
We lament:
- the refusal to believe
- the lack of understanding
- the crippling of compassion.
All: Hear our cries, gracious God.
We lament:
- the unwitting colluders
- the incredulous bystanders
- the victims by association
All: Hear our cries, gracious God.
- If and where law was blunt force instead of healing process
- If and where protection of the system denied care of the individual
- If and where the inadequate heart hardened against known need
All: Forgive us, God of Mercy.
- Where we turned the blind eye
- where we covered our ears from the cries
- where we put stones in our shoes to prevent leaps to defence
All: Forgive us, God of Mercy.
- Where courage has been compromised
- where kindness has been tepid
- where mercy has been muted
All: Forgive us, God of Mercy.
From our lament,
from the deep keening of our loss
and the sorrow that is seeping around us,
we yearn to make a new hope,
from the heart of Mercy,
from the depth of the Spirit:
the hope of a wounded people,
the hope of hurt needing to heal,
a brokenness called to wholeness,
a ruin needing to be rebuilt.
All: May God gather us in hope,
heal the brokenness,
and guide the rebuilding.
Only in God is our hope,
only in God is our healing,
only in God is the rebuilding.
Amen we say,
Amen.
*The text in bold type can be the group response; the main text to be read by a single reader.
