Dear Steele,

Francis Sullivan who's
executive chair of Mater Group Ltd and the former
chief executive of the Catholic church's truth,
justice and healing council, as well as the
previous Secretary-General of the Australian
Medical Association writes:

" Cardinal George Pell's acquittal was legally
the correct decision. His relief and that of his
family and many supporters will be palpable.
He - not the Catholic church - was on trial and
the high court has seen fit to ensure justice
was served."

However, Francis Sullivan also points out that:

"It is not possible to divorce the acquittal from
the broader context of the Catholic church's history
of child sexual abuse."

"With the matter concluded the Catholic bishops
should end their obsession with Pell
and take up their moral responsibility to the
victims of church perpetrators and those who
obfuscated and concealed on their behalf."

"Context is everything and perspective even more so.
The Catholic church has a shameful and confronting
history of the sexual abuse of children. The
royal commission made that clear."

"By 2017 nearly 5,000 people had made allegations of
abuse against church personnel. The largest number
for any single institution. Sadly those numbers have
likely grown by now."

We're told that:

"There was extraordinary evidence that some church
authorities expended far more money defending abusers
than compensating their victims."

"Often the compensation they received was a pittance."

"...For decades victims of the Catholic church have
chosen to settle outside the courts knowing that
the alternative was useless."

" Until the royal commission those settlements were
shrouded by confidentiality clauses designed to
conceal the details of abuse, the abuser, and the
money exchanged."

Sullivan tells us that restoring the image of the church
will only happen when the church's integrity becomes
linked with a just and compassionate treatment of
its victims. That means believing them. Walking with
them as they slowly restore their lives.

Hollow words and a pittance in compensation
don't mean much.

What does is placing the
welfare of the victims before the interests of the
institution and making genuine reforms such as changing
outdated practices.

runner,

As far as child sexual abuse by the Catholic church
is concerned the situation has only improved
because of the public scrutiny. The royal
commission heard that often victims were not believed
by the church. Rather they were interrogated by
lawyers and subjected to psychiatric assessments to
justify their claims.

Francis Sullivan has pointed out that:

"Sexual assaults on children usually occur in secret.
There are rarely any witnesses. This leads to their
claims being doubted as one word is pitted against
another. For decades therefore victims of the Catholic
church have chosen to settle outside the courts knowing
that the alternative was virtually useless."

" Until the royal commission those settlements were
shrouded by confidentiality clauses designed to conceal the
details of abuse, the abuser and money exchanged."

"There were extraordinary evidence that some church authorities
expended far more money defending abusers than compensating
victims."

As I stated earlier restoring the image of the church will
only become a reality when the church's integrity becomes
inextrically linked with a just and compassionate treatment
of the victims. That means believing them. Walking with
them as they slowly restore their lives.

Dear Foxy,

From your quote; "He - not the Catholic church - was on trial and
the high court has seen fit to ensure justice
was served."

I think this is patently untrue. A person learning of another victim's suicide felt compelled to come forward about the abuse he and the other victim suffered at the hands of Pell.

The High Court did not represent his testimony as anything other than sound, nor did they say the charges brought were in error.

The only way the case that this was all about the Church can be made is if all 12 jurors took the view that Pell represented the Church and decided to totally ignore a egregious miscarriage of justice to convict him.

Doesn't fly I'm afraid.

How is the Catholic clergy coping with social distancing? Not very well I suspect.

Even though Pell is a cardinal, he is still only a small fish in the large Catholic see. The outcome in his particular case, is when viewed in its proper context somewhat minor. Pell being a cardinal does make it more newsworthy than it otherwise would be. However in no way does the verdict absolve the Catholic Church from its responsibility, firstly to victims, and secondly to refocus its attitude and procedures to correct what still is an untenable situation within the organisation. The verdict in noway was a victory for the Catholic Church. It was a loss for victims, many will continue to have little faith in the justice system to deal with their unique issues. Over many years on the Forum I have been one of the consistent protagonists when it comes to paedophilia in the Catholic Church, and when the opportunity arises I will call it out again as it so richly deserves.

The following article deals with sexual harassment, but applies equally to paedophilia.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/the-compassion-chronicles/201711/why-dont-victims-sexual-harassment-come-forward-sooner

Steele,

"... A person learning of another victim's suicide felt compelled to come forward about the abuse he and the other victim suffered at the hands of Pell."

But the other told his mother that it didn't happen so the one who came forward either thinks that his friend lied to his mother or that his dead friend's mother is a liar.

Reasonable doubt.

Dear Steele,

Francis Sullivan said that the high court's decision
of Cardinal George Pell's acquittal was legally the
correct decision and that the high court had seen
fit to ensure that justice was served -Sullivan
was referring to the decision by invoking the core
principle of the criminal justice system - guilt must
be established "beyond reasonable doubt."

He was not approving of the decision. And he goes on
to talk about the church's responsibility to victims
of child sexual abuse with the hope that the Pell
trial may perhaps result in an acknowledgement by the
church that radical change from within is required.
One that hopefully will produce genuine reform.