National Apology
On Thursday 1 June 2017, Edmund Rice Education Australia (EREA) Principals gathered at the National Arboretum in Canberra, a unique place of regeneration, renewal and healing, and EREA made a National Apology to Survivors and Victims of Sexual Abuse on behalf of all EREA schools.
It was a response by EREA school communities to abuse that took place in some EREA schools in the past. Ray Paxton, National Director of Identity and Liberating Education, led the development of the Apology ritual, supported by John Crowley, Principal of St Patrick’s College Ballarat, in consultation with survivors, who were represented at the National Apology.
The message of hope which emerged from the National Apology provided us with a new voice and a firm resolve to acknowledge the shameful abuse that took place in some EREA schools in the past, to stand beside the victims and actively support those who have suffered.
Click here for the EREA Apology to Victims and Survivors of Sexual Abuse