Charging of Cardinal George Pell on Multiple Historical Sexual Assault Offences Shocks Parish

Goulburn Post
June 29, 2017

http://www.goulburnpost.com.au/story/4761532/charges-rock-church/

The charging of Cardinal George Pell on multiple historical sexual assault offences is “catastrophic” for the Catholic Church, says a longtime Goulburn parishioner.

Bob Stephens has attended Saints Peter and Paul’s Cathedral Masses for the past 65 years. He also serves on the Cathedral’s restoration committee.

He was shocked to hear that police had charged Cardinal Pell on Wednesday. The Rome-based former Archbishop of Sydney is due to appear before Melbourne Magistrate’s Court on July 18.

“It’s catastrophic for the church but this has to run its course. I believe he’ll cooperate,” Mr Stephens said.

“If he’s guilty, he has to go down with the rest of them. No one is exempt from this.”

He described sexual abuse as “a crime against society” and cited the recent sentencing of several former Saint Patrick’s Goulburn Christian Brothers.

But Mr Stephens believed the broader church had responded appropriately through measures proposed by Truth, Justice and Healing CEO Francis Sullivan and Canberra/Goulburn Archbishop Christopher Prowse’s initiatives.

The Archbishop said it was inappropriate to comment on the Cardinal’s charging.

The charges come a day before Mary Queen of Apostles’ Liturgy of Lament. The service at Trinity Catholic College will acknowledge past abuses but also the closure and loss of connection with closed schools.

“It is an attempt to show the church is repentant. I think it’s something we all have to own up to,” Mr Stephens said.

But Trish Charter, a former resident of the old Saint Joseph’s Girls Orphanage, said the Liturgy should be more inclusive.

“I hope that the children of all (Goulburn’s) orphanages will not be forgotten in this so-called Lament, which I frankly find pretty hurtful because it just skims over the fact that horrendous physical, emotional, mental and sexual abuse took place in Catholic orphanages and schools,” she said.

Mrs Charter said people had “lost faith” in the church well before the recent Royal Commission and it could not keep putting itself “above the law.”

“Cardinal Pell is head of the Catholic Church in Australia and the buck stops with him,” she said.

Meantime, Goulburn woman Natalie Gordon says Friday’s Liturgy of Lament sends a “confusing message.”

“It is confusing because in one light it looks as though this has been offered as a chance to publicly mourn the closure to one of the many versions of Catholic education options many of us grew up with in Goulburn and at the same time...acknowledge and pray for systematic child abuse and its cost to many individuals and families living in town. Which one is it?,” she said.

“Will the Congregational leader of the Christian Brothers be there? Will the Archbishop be there? Praying with lamentations as a church community is often used in the context of the funeral rites. That is, someone's funeral.

“...Having a ‘funeral' or ‘a sense of trying to let go' for your old school is one thing. Combining this with a liturgy for those who have died as a result of child abuse or have survived child abuse is completely off point and another disappointing large blotch on the image of the local church.”

Mary Queen of Apostles parish priest, Father Dermid McDermott was not available for comment. However he told The Post earlier this week the Liturgy was initiated to acknowledge past wrongdoing in a reflective way, on top of the practical measures implemented after the Royal Commission, and to recognise local connections with now closed Catholic schools.