Abuse Survivors Welcome Offer to Meet George Pell, but Still Want to See Hearing

By Melissa Davey
The Guardian
February 17, 2016

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/feb/18/cardinal-pell-responds-to-calls-to-return-to-australia-for-child-sex-abuse-inquiry

The office of Cardinal George Pell says he is ‘anxious to present the facts’ to the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse. Photograph: Roslan Rahman/AFP/Getty Images

Survivors of child sexual abuse have welcomed news that Australia’s most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, will meet them in Rome, but say their priority is still seeing him give evidence before a royal commission.

David Ridsdale, who is the nephew and victim of notorious paedophile priest Gerald Francis Ridsdale, is one of those co-ordinating a group of child sex abuse survivors and their supporters to fly to Rome following the success of a fundraising campaign which has raised more than $170,000.

But Ridsdale said the purpose of flying there was to watch Pell give evidence before Australia’s royal commission into institutional responses into child sexual abuse, not to have a separate, private meeting with him.

“We will happily meet with him,” Ridsdale said.

“But this will be a very gruelling, triggering trip for everyone. We are putting ourselves through that to be in the same room as him and to see him be part of the royal commission’s process, which we have all been involved with. We can always meet him at a later date, but for me, there is little point going to Rome if we can’t see him give evidence, and that’s our priority.”

Pell was initially supposed to give evidence before the royal commission in person in Melbourne last year. However, after his lawyers tendered medical documents to the commission chair, Justice Peter McClellan, on two separate occasions, McClellan finally agreed to allow Pell to give his evidence via video-link in Rome.

It prompted supporters of child sexual abuse victims in Catholic institutions to launch a fundraising campaign to send the survivors and a team of psychologists and counsellors to Pell. However, the royal commission is yet to secure an appropriate venue for Pell to give evidence from, and survivors being able to attend will depend on it being a public venue, and Pell agreeing to the venue.

On Thurdsay morning, Pell’s office released a statement which said: “The cardinal will continue to co-operate with whatever arrangements the royal commission determines.

“As Cardinal Pell has done after earlier hearings, he is prepared to meet with and listen to victims and express his ongoing support.”

The release of a song on Tuesday night by Australian comedian and songwriter, Tim Minchin, titled George Pell (Come Home) helped to fuel the fundraising campaign and draw attention to the survivors wishing to go to Rome.

Ridsdale said Minchin was a “wonderful man” and that he was “thrilled” by his support, but added that he was proud that the fundraising target of $55,000 was met even before the song was released and highlighted their campaign.

“It made us realise how much support we do have, and that has been absolutely breathtaking,” Ridsdale said.

“After so many years of being unheard, there is now so much excitement and hope thanks to all those people who donated to us, even if they didn’t have a lot of money, and it has shown us how much people care not just in Australia, but from all around the world.”

Ridsdale said he had organised doctors and psychologists to join the survivors on the trip to Rome, and that the fundraising campaign “has given me a new lease on life”.

“I never thought we could do this, and it has been survivors driving this whole campaign and bringing the suffering we have faced to the surface. So many people have told us how to think and what we should do about our abuse, and we’ve realised that we, as survivors, are the experts in how to respond and what we need.

“We’re the ones who have hid these secrets for so long, and those burdens ripped our souls apart and left us fractured.”

When he faces the commission on 29 February, Pell will be questioned about his involvement in moving Gerald Ridsdale between Ballarat parishes once the abuse of his nephew and others came to light; allegations that he tried to talk David Ridsdale out of disclosing the abuse he suffered; as well as questions about the Melbourne Response, the system implemented by the Archdiocese of Melbourne to respond to allegations of child sexual abuse within its institutions.

Stephen Woods, a survivor of horrendous sexual abuse at the hands of three religious figures within the Diocese of Ballarat when he was a schoolboy, and during the time Pell worked with the Diocese of Ballarat as an assistant priest, will be going to Rome if a public venue is found.

While he too wants to witness Pell give evidence as a priority, he said he would gladly meet with Pell.

“I think it’s very rare he meets with anyone these days,” he said.

“I think his offer to meet with us could be damage control following this large fundraising campaign and the attention his not appearing in person has received.”

However, Woods said he had a few sentiments he would express to Pell if a meeting occurred.

“I would tell him to be as candid and as transparent as possible which, he has failed to be so far,” he said.

“It would also be a magnificent gesture from the church in Rome and on his behalf if he offered the commission all the files the Vatican has access to that have been taken from Australia.”