SR,

In any criminal trial, there is always the reasonable possibility that a witness's testimony is materially false either deliberately or otherwise which is why even in civil trials if in the absence of any corroborating evidence a case where there is one man's word against another the case will be dismissed.

In the case of Pell, not only was there zero corroborating evidence to support the testimony of the complainant, but the opportunity witness testimony threw serious doubt on the complainant's testimony. If the Victorian judiciary were even vaguely competent they would have picked this up and dismissed the case.

Dear Paul,

«Very few victims of these predatory monsters seek revenge,»

I would have hoped so.

«for if they did our streets would be littered with the corpses of dead old Catholic clergy»

Why do the dirty work yourself, and risk jail too, when police and the courts can do it for you for free?

I don't have numbers, but I tend to agree with you that the silent majority does not seek revenge, and therefore neither kill in the streets nor tell the police.

«Justice is even more elusive, as it has been showen»

Indeed, humans are not equipped for and not capable of doing justice.

Tweak it here, tweak it there, humans will always do a clumsy mess of a job which creates more problems than they solve.

«a child in these cases HAS NO GUILT, old or otherwise.»

Have you never felt guilty as a child?

A child may not be able to attribute correctly what they feel guilty for, and therefore think that they are guilty for something else which could be trivial or someone else's fault. Nevertheless, even if someone does not FEEL guilt, that does not mean that they do not carry any guilt.

«The notion that some unseen being in the form of a god is up there in his heaven»

That is your notion, not mine.

«Justice has to be served here on earth, nowhere else.»

Well to a great extent it is served here on earth, just not by humans.

Gentlemen,

It was thanks to an effective combination of survivor
advocacy and truth-telling along with persistent journalism
and police officers who broke ranks to create the political
institutions for a major inquiry into the institutional
sexual abuse of children across Australia.

The findings of the Royal Commission produced an official
historical account of the scale and severity of the abuse in
the Catholic Church and other institutions. The Commission
helped to place the issue in the public consciousness,
largely thanks to consistent media coverage of its work and
findings.

Its recommendations led to important legal and policy reforms
and the establishment of a national redress scheme, and
the inquiry itself is now considered a model for truth-
telling and accountability for survivor groups internationally.

Dear Banjo, Steele, and Paul,
Please read the full case study here:

http://home.crin.org/issues/sexual-violence/australia-case-study-clergy-abuse

Thanks Foxy,

That article is an excellent read, thanks to the political will of the Gillard Government that a Royal Commission become a reality. If left to the conservatives there would never have been such a far reaching enquiry, probably no enquiry at all. Could you imagine the 'Mad Monk' Abbott giving up his mate Pell, or the 'Happy Clapping' Morrison lifting a finger to assists victims of church abouse, no way. If Pell wasn't a paedophile, and there is enough to suggest he was, then he certainly was an enabler, guilty as sin!

There are those on here who see Pell as a model of conservatism, who should be defended at every opportunity

Dear Pell,

The archbishop of Sydney Fisher, (whose appointment
Pell influenced), has announced that Cardinal Pell
will lie in state at St Mary's Cathedral on 1st
February and then a Requiem Mass will be held on
February 2nd followed by a private burial and transfer
to the crypt in the Cathedral.

Fisher has announced that thousands will attend the
Requiem Mass on 2nd February, including overseas visitors.
To a big show will be on display. People will probably
be brought in by the bus load - from schools et cetera.
Anyway we'll see. It is an opportunity for the Church
to show its power. A pity it can't show compassion for
the victims.

Instead orders have been given to have the ribbons
removed that survivors of abuse have been (and continue)
to place on the fences and gates of the Cathedral. Remove
all"" is the given order.

Showing where the Church stands.

OOOOOps, Dear Pell, should read - Dear Paul.
Freudian slip. It made my husband laugh out loud.