Dear ttbn,

You just contradicted yourself. You should try applying logic to your statements before posting them.

Facts are not illogical, Mr. Idiot. The vast majority of Catholic clergy are not child abusers. The more you post, the more shonky your claimed educational standards look. Any common garden coward can talk bullshite and tell lies anonymously. You get top marks for that.

Dear Banjo Paterson,

My father was raised by Jesuits. He attended a
seminary in his youth. Our family connections
were strongly linked to two priests and two
monsignors. Dad gave up the priesthood when he
met and married mum. However, he never forced
religion onto me. I was a believer on my own.
It gave me a sense of security and calm.

I did not look at things from the perspective
you mentioned. I simply took for granted that
priests were holy people and could be trusted.
That was then.

I look at things somewhat differently now.
However, I still feel that the role of a priest
is to protect not abuse. And I have hope in my
heart that the Church will make their seminaries
places where they prepare young men to be priests
where the ideals of priestly ministry are nurtured,
not just philosophical and theological study, but
in human virtues, social graces, and spiritual
values rich in human and spiritual tradition.

I don't think that the quote I cited was intended
as you interpreted it. I think it was meant to be
understood in a loving manner.

"The deceased choir boy’s father’s lawyer has confirmed that his client’s claim in the civil court against the Catholic Church will now go ahead on the basis that it was the [alleged] sexual abuse his son suffered from George Pell that resulted in his son’s drug addiction and death by overdose."

That should be an interesting case. The boy in question, now deceased, told his own mother that nothing had happened and that he hadn't been abused by Pell.

So the court case is going to involve the father asserting that his own son lied. Good luck with that one. The case will last about 15 minutes....and that's only because it'll take the judge 10 minutes to stop laughing.

But people want Pell punished and they'll continue to fantasise about how that can happen.

Dear mhaze,

Yes it should be good as evidence from other of Pell's victims can be aired as well as the redacted Royal Commission testimony. I look forward to having this brought out in the open. Hopefully the parents get the justice they deserve.

The father of one of the choirboys believes his
son suffered post-traumatic stress disorder
because he had been abused. That's why he turned
to drugs. Apparently it is very common for
survivors of sexual abuse to turn to drugs as a
way to block out the abuse.

The son died of an accidental heroin overdose in
2014, aged 30. He never spoke to his parents about
being abused. But his father believes that was
the reason his son turned to drugs.

It will be interesting to see how this case will
go in court and what legal principles will apply in
civil cases.

We all know that survivors of abuse need to be
shown that it doesn't matter how important an
abuser is, they can still be held to account.
Survivors need to feel that they will be
believed and listened to. The more we start
talking about this, the safer kids will be.

At the same time - these cases are complex and
anything can happen. We'll have to wait and see
in the matter of this civil case. Either way,
I doubt if anybody will be laughing, most of all
Cardinal Pell.