Many people apparently feel that I’m a bit arrogant but I have listened to recent criticism and I would like to respond in a spirit of cleansing. Firstly I do admit that sexual abuse by catholic clergy has been a serious problem that has hurt many thousands of people and has rocked the church, exacerbated by church leaders denying and covering up thousands of offences.

Getting to the point, I don’t want to mention names but there are two letters sent by me to two victims of a priest under my ‘jurisdiction’. In one of the letters I make two false statements but I believe I did not intend to lie. I was trying to simplify and avoid saying too much but in hindsight even that was a sin of omission. I apologise for that.

As you, and even I, cannot see into my heart I must admit that the two false statements in my letter were my responsibility and mean that on the evidence it would appear that I lied. I would be insulting your intelligence and undermining honest debate about the church to say otherwise. I do not want to be one of those church leaders who has denied and covered up offences and stifled honest debate in and out of the church as many have for hundreds of years.

Today we are caught in ten word sound bites. The truth is more complex than that but it is also crucial that we seek the truth with our whole heart. I apologise for those two false statements in my letter and hope God will forgive me.

From George Pell (we hope)

President Bush says sorry to African Americans

At 9am, Feb 13/08, the Australian Parliament formally apologised for the hurt and suffering its previous policies had inflicted on the indigenous population. Such policies included the forcible removal of children from their families. “These injustices must never happen again,” the Prime Minister said, “they are a great stain on the nation’s soul”. For thirty minutes, Kevin Rudd held the nation in his hands, as millions cheered, applauded and wept. Watching a broadcast of the apology in the White House, George Bush was transfixed, and he urgently summoned speech writers. RICHARD NEVILLE found himself amongst them, offering suggestions...

Australia’s reconciliation process with its indigenous citizen’s has begun. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s statesmanship on the day we said ‘sorry’ to the stolen generations augers well for the future despite the missing word from the ceremony today. The word ‘love’.

It is love alone which can deliver the healing and take us, all of us, to a new place. Love helps us to see the world through the eyes of others; to share their ‘world views’ and to feel with them. And it is only by sharing that we can co-create the context in which change can take place. A Croatian neighbour confided in me today – in halting English – that Aborigines were beyond help; my response is that it is him that needs help.

Australia is a better place after the apology. And it is now that the real work begins. With each other.

In its initial response to the 'Bringing them Home' Report in 1997, the Howard government argued that 'We do not believe our generation should be asked to accept responsibility for the acts of earlier generations.' But many of those acts occurred within the lifetimes of generations now living.

Mick Dodson: “Who are these people, who is this generation that took my grandmother, my father, my mother and my grandfather and my two sisters? Who is this generation that tried to take me from my family in 1960? What generation do we look to if Mr Howard says it wasn't this one? Where is this mythical group of Australians who made these laws, adopted these policies, put them into practice, who took the kids?”.

Critics of the 'Bringing them Home' Report believe the report demonises the white officials who were involved in removing indigenous children. The late Editor of Quadrant magazine, P.P. McGuinness, reiterated this point in an editorial.”To denigrate the honest and sincere efforts of so many people who thought they were doing the right thing”, says McGuinness, “is merely a historical ignorance.” But according to philosopher Raimond Gaita, this view represents a kind of moral blindness about our immediate past. [More]

The Rudd government's handling of the sorry saga over an apology and payment of compensation to members of the Stolen Generation represents both a step forward and a step backward. And as any fifth grader will tell you, that adds up to not much progress at all. The step forward is that a national apology will be delivered. Granted, for Indigenous Australians extracting the word 'sorry' must feel like drawing blood from a stone. But a belated apology is better than no apology at all. The step backward is that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his Indigenous affairs minister, Jenny Macklin have decided that no compensation will be forthcoming. That is deeply disappointing. Rudd simply did not want his Prime Ministership defined by an early act of 'generosity' towards 'the blacks'.

While it may well have been the 'right thing to do', politics is about pragmatism and populism, not principle and leadership. Unfortunately, Aboriginal people tend not to be all that pragmatic when it comes to their basic human rights. They have this crazy notion that their rights should be respected, no matter what. And a basic human right the world over is that if you are harmed, you're entitled to an apology, an assurance it will not occur again, and compensation. Rudd's plan of action on this issue is straight out of the John Howard playbook on 'Dealing with The Natives' - whatever you do, do less than the bare minimum. But surely Rudd must realise by now that this approach simply delays the inevitable, and guarantees you a bad write-up in the history books.

The truth is that just as mankind developed opposable thumbs and crawled outof the caves, Australia will - kicking, screaming or otherwise - eventually be dragged into the human rights community. We will progress. We will evolve. Indigenous Australians will one day be compensated for stolen land, stolen wages and stolen children. We will one day have to pay out the 'Great Australian Trifecta'. [More]