BishopAccountability.org

Victims’ powerful message before Cardinal George Pell addresses child abuse royal commission in Rome

By Charles Miranda
Herald Sun
February 28, 2016

http://tinyurl.com/zdp5l3x

Peter Blenkin arrives in Rome wearing a T-shirt with an image of himself as a boy.
Photo by Charles Miranda

Paul Levey and partner Michele on the eve of the face off with Cardinal Pell in Rome.
Photo by Charles Miranda

[with video]

CLERGY abuse survivor Peter Blenkiron wore a T-shirt as he arrived in Rome, emblazoned with the face of a smiling toothy 11-year-old boy full of life, dreams and promise.

“That was me as a child, when he got me, I looked like that,” the now 53-year-old said haltingly as if still sensing a monster lurking close.

He was abused at St Patrick’s Secondary School in Ballarat each time he could not finish homework and was made to complete it in the room of Christian Brother and now convicted paedophile Edward Dowlan.

He said he came to Rome today to bear witness and keep other children safe.

“Nobody kept this child safe,” he said pointing at his belly and his image.

He said he now had two children of his own, aged 8 and 10, and hoped they and other children would be kept safe with changes to laws, notably within the Church.

He says he bore no malice against the church and was thankful the royal commission was seeking out the truth of those in charge.

“I was born a Catholic and I know some good Catholic people and I’m friends with good Catholic people, I just struggle with the whole institution,” he said.

“I believe there is a God by many different names and I find solace in meditation which is a form or prayer. But I’m hoping George Pell finally … says he does remember and not like all the bishops and other clergy in Australia that have said ‘I can’t recall, I can’t remember I don’t know the details’.”

Paul Levey also has a banner he wants to unfurl at the royal commission hearings but has already been advised it would be perceived as a “protest” and that made him liable to police arrest in Rome.

The banner reads ‘Loud Fence Comes to Rome’, loud fence being the initiative that went viral with the help of social media urging people to tie a ribbon to a fence in support of child abuse victims.

Instead Mr Levey will wear his cap embroidered “No More Silence” and his partner Michele East will wear ribbons about her wrist.

“We just want to say we’re here,” he said yesterday as he enjoyed a beer in a cafe at central Rome.

He and Michele self-funded the trip to the tune of $3500 each just for flights and a hotel but felt it was an important trip to make.




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