Dear Fester, Paul, and O Sung Wu,

Thank You for your kind words and good wishes.

They're deeply appreciated.

Mr Op,

I think that Victorians are very well served by skilled jurists like Justice Weinberg. You might sling off at one frivolous remark, but there was a great deal of skill and effort that went into his judgement. It seems quite a feat to commit such offences in full vestments after mass.

Hi Foxy,

//As to what I think of Cardinal Pell? A jury unanimously
found him guilty as did the majority of judges.
I respect their decision.//

Totally agree, as I said on a previous post, if Pell's lawyers pull a rabbit out of the hat and get him off in the High Court, so be it. I find some on here laughable, giving legal opinions on such a complicated legal matter, all without the slightest insight what so ever. The same folks who will pan a book without having read it.

Foxy,

I intended to wish you well with your visit to the hospital at the end of my last post but forgot; I remembered, but got the dreaded "You may post in 1 hour".

Anyway, all the very best.

Dear Fester,

What I am saying is that we need better people: people who have skills and knowledge other than vocational legal training and expertise. Being skilled in rhetoric and sophism might be held in high esteem within the group but a lack of knowledge is held in contempt by the hoi polloi unconcerned about the fine detail of the law and wanting unambiguous social justice. We simply need much better people than we have!

Dear Fester,

PS. Contrary to what you reckon, I think the High Court will convene an appeal hearing and subsequently acquit Pell of the charges. It won't be to save Pell's neck but to maintain the position of the Catholic Church. There is now more at stake than the soul of one man. If it happens the way I think it will go we can revisit it and discuss the reasons and machinations of how and why.