A Pdf version of this media release can be found online here

In Good Faith Foundation (IGFF) and Xavier College are proud to announce that we have entered a formal Charter of Cooperation to help address the present day impacts of Historical Institutional Abuse.

The Charter is, as far as we know, the first of its kind and represents the commitment shared between IGFF and Xavier College to advocate, support and engage survivors of Institutional Abuse within the Xaverian community.

It is our collective hope, that by adopting this ground-breaking approach, we can reconnect parts of the Xaverian community that have been separated due to Historical Institutional Abuse in a safe, informed, and respectful way.

While we can never erase the pain and abuse of the past; we can acknowledge the present and take ownership of our future.

Clare Leaney,
CEO
In Good Faith Foundation

William Doherty,
Principal
Xavier College

Attributable Quotes

Clare Leaney, IGFF Chief Executive Officer:

“IGFF is proud to be joining with Xavier College to help ensure that the tragedies of the past are not just remembered – but learnt from.

Survivors of Institutional Abuse are often ostracised by the very communities where they have the strongest personal connections. This Charter has the potential to be the bridge that reconnects old Xaverians, isolated by historical abuse, to the present-day Xavier community.

While no two journeys to justice are the same, we know that survivors who are heard, believed, and supported by their community, have far greater resilience than those forced to travers the path in isolation.

IGFF has worked closely in the last 6 years with Xavier College, notably establishing a Survivors Memorial at the school’s senior campus in 2015 to honour the memory of all those that had suffered abuse while students at Xavier.

Xavier College has demonstrated over these years of collaboration, an unwavering commitment to redress for crimes of the past, but also a dedication to educate current/future students to avoid the acts if the past from ever occurring again in future.”

William Doherty, Xavier College Principal:

“For people who are the victims and survivors of abuse, they carry enormous trauma and pain with them. They also need a safe place to begin to unpack and resolve that trauma and pain.

Those who have suffered abuse and trauma through past experiences need a safe place to tell their story, and they need accompaniment in the telling of their story for their own ongoing care and opportunity to reclaim their lives.

The fact that there have been people who have worked in schools who have been, at best unconscious or, at worst deliberate, in being detrimental and abusive to a child in their care is unconscionable.

We wish to see all Xaverians cared for. While our obvious priority is achieving this for our current students, and to continue to improve and enhance our capacities for care for our future students, we cannot ignore those who have and who might continue to be suffering because of their past experiences – one of the strengths of Xavier is that you are a Xaverian for life.

Too often, the only recourse for the victim has been a legal journey, and a lonely and difficult one at that.

It is our hope that, by this connection with the In Good Faith Foundation, working in trust and partnership with an external party and where there is a mutual desire to care for people who have been hurt through abuse, we can best care for those Old Xaverians living with the scars of abuse from their time at the College. I believe that this Charter of Cooperation will positively and meaningfully contribute to these outcomes.

We are and we must be committed to owning our past. To do so, we must be proactive rather than only being reactive.”

For all media enquiries please contact:

IGFF
Joe Stroud, Chief Operating Officer, Head of Government Relations and Media:
E: joe@igff.org.au

Xavier College
Shane Healy, Director of Engagement and Operations
E: shane.healy@xavier.vic.edu.au