Anglican Communion News Service

(Credit to Paul Osborne. "Focus". Brisbane)The General Synod of the Australian Anglican Church this week unreservedly apologised to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for the part the Anglican Church of Australia played in the hurt and trauma caused by the unjustified removal of children from their families.

It also sought forgiveness from indigenous people for past silence on the issue and called on church members to co-operate in bringing the recommendations of the "Bringing Them Home" report to fruition. In its motion, carried unanimously with acclamation, the Synod also called on the Federal Government to apologise and seriously consider implementing the recommendations of the "Bringing Them Home" report.

Archbishop of Brisbane, Peter Hollingworth, who moved the resolution, said those who implemented the child protection processes that led to the "Bringing Them Home" report had no malicious intent, but had "few resources and little understanding of indigenous culture and no sophisticated knowledge of the behavioural sciences".

"Many acted on issues of squalor, poverty and homelessness. They believed if they didn't act children would die of malnutrition or other diseases," he said. But the problems caused by these processes were well documented in the report and the church and governments needed to acknowledge the "tragic, dramatic dimension to this problem".

Seconder, Archbishop of Perth, Peter Carnley, said every indigenous person in the country had been affected by the "genocide", which had seen one in ten males and three in ten females who were removed from their families abused as children. Dr Carnley said problems were worsened by the fact that indigenous people were treated as "individuals" rather than humans made in the image of God.

Assistant Bishop of North Queensland, Arthur Malcolm, said he became angry when he read letters from people who had been "stolen" from their families. "If I wasn't a Christian I would get a shotgun and shoot the lot of you," he said. "It hurts me so much to think a human being was treated like that." Bishop Malcolm, who only discovered his real mother 10 years ago, said indigenous Anglicans wanted the church "to really say that we are not ashamed to say 'I'm sorry'".

"When we think about the stolen generations we think about the hurts that are going through our lives," he said. "We want to forget about these things so we can be in unity with one another."

Aboriginal synod member Lenore Parker called on Anglicans to "listen to the stories of my people" and "get down on our knees and say to God that we are sorry" out of the history of it, not out of guilt. "So that we can look directly into the face of an Aboriginal person and say I love you, please forgive me," she said. "I will walk with you. We are trying to walk with you, but our pains are so great..."

She said when one part of the family hurt, "we all hurt". "That brings me to what the church is about - a sense of belonging. "I would urge you to listen to the cries of our people, to talk with us in love and in trust and say genuinely that you are sorry." Assistant Bishop of North Queensland, Ted Mosby, said asking for forgiveness was a matter of "binding spirit and releasing spirit". "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are ready to accept you as brothers and sisters and I believe the spirit of togetherness is here," he said. "I believe we must act as well as listen. We are not only hearers but doers."