Dear Holy Father,

I am a mother of two daughter's who have been educated at our local catholic primary school in Melbourne, Australia.

In desperation I write to you having exhausted all options locally for my concerns to be addressed.  Since February last year, I have met with and written to the School Principal and Parish Priest and representatives of the Catholic Education Office.  I have also written to the Victorian Regulatory Qualification Authority, the Vicar-General and Archbishop Denis Hart.

Specifically, my issue is that all catholic children throughout the world are still potentially vulnerable to being groomed by a priest with ill intent, as they are required to have a conversation with him that is deliberately unable to be heard in order to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

In our school the Parish Priest undertakes this ritual for each child once per semester and whilst parents are grateful that he now follows the newly prescribed protocol of holding the ceremony in the sanctuary of the church in the full view of another member of school staff, this directive still does not address the potential opportunity for a child to be groomed.  Grooming for sexual conduct with a child under the age of 16 years has been a criminal offence here in Victoria since the 9th April 2014.

Amazingly, it seems you are the only person in the entire world who is authorised to fix this problem but I'd be ever so grateful if you did! Could you please find the time over the next few weeks to amend the special circumstances in the Third Rite of Reconciliation to incorporate permission for all priests worldwide to use this version when conducting the Sacrament of Reconciliation for children?  Eliminating opportunity surely has to be the first and most important step in eradicating all forms of child abuse for children in our Church today.

Everyone I've spoken to in asking for change is of the opinion that the Church moves slowly and that I need to understand that I'll have to wait - possibly years!  But I can't wait patiently whilst children are potentially still at risk and feel in my heart that you are a man who truly understands that confession is actually all about compassion and that you would very quickly do all that is within your power to secure the safety of children.

Our Parish has another group of Grade 3 children (average age 8-9 years old) scheduled to make their First Rite of Reconciliation on the 22nd March 2017 and presently the only way we can create the correct structure to truly ensure the safety of the children, according to the only applicable special circumstance able to be invoked for the Third Rite of Reconciliation, is to ask many more people to come to the ceremony so as to make it impossible for the attending clergy to hear the individual confessions of everyone in a timely manner - thus the need then arises for a Communal or General Service that will eliminate the children having a one on one encounter with a priest.  Whilst this arrangement is possible, many parents are rightly concerned it has the potential to ruin this special personal time in their child's learning of faith and that many children will find it overwhelming to see so many people in attendance.

Of course we are also hoping as parents not to have to put our Parish Priest in this position but he has once again verified for us at the recent Reconciliation Parent Information Night that he can only offer us what the Church allows him to do and in all conscience he is unable to provide us with a General Service under normal circumstances unless he has been given new permission.

In our State of Victoria, new guidelines (Ministerial Order 870) have recently been passed in Parliament that requires all schools and parishes to "ensure as far as practicable that adults are not alone with a child."  This is because keeping children in groups has been shown to be one of the most effective ways of keeping children safe.  As a matter of urgency, I believe the Church now needs to conform with these guidelines.

Most Holy Father, I look forward to your response and will be praying that this letter reaches you and receives a favourable response.

Yours sincerely,

Kathy Hedger