BishopAccountability.org

Clergy abuse survivor draws support for petition to defrock Pell

By Matt Neal
Australian Broadcasting Corporati(ABC)
May 10, 2020

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-11/clergy-abuse-survivor-draws-support-for-petition-to-defrock-pell/12232788

Paul Levey, right, hugs a fellow clergy abuse survivor in Rome following a visit to the Vatican in 2016.
Photo by Lloyd Jones

The Royal Commission found that Cardinal Pell was told Gerald Ridsdale was being moved from Mortlake because of his alleged sexual abuse of children.
Photo by Joel Carrett

A petition started by a clergy abuse survivor has received more than 30,000 signatures supporting his call for Cardinal George Pell to be defrocked.

Paul Levey, who was abused by convicted paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale, began the Change.org petition on Friday and said he was surprised by the response.

"The first night I went to bed and it was at 600 and I thought that was fantastic. Now, I think it's around 32,000 signatures," Mr Levey said.

Mr Levey was 13 when he was sent to live with Ridsdale in the presbytery in Mortlake, in south-west Victoria, where he was abused daily for six months.

He said the release of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses into Child Sexual Abuse's previously redacted findings into Cardinal Pell inspired him to start the petition.

The Royal Commission found that Cardinal Pell was told at a meeting in 1982 that Ridsdale was being moved from Mortlake because of his alleged sexual abuse of children, although it made no finding that Cardinal Pell was aware of specific cases of abuses.

Mr Levey said he plans to send the petition to Pope Francis, Melbourne Archbishop Peter Comensoli, and Ballarat Bishop Paul Bird.

"Hopefully it'll show them there's a lot of people out there that aren't happy with the way things are done with the Catholic Church," he said.

"We're not out there on our own."

In a statement, Cardinal Pell said he was "surprised by some of the views of the Royal Commission about his actions" as they "are not supported by evidence".

"He is especially surprised by the statements in the report about the earlier transfers of Gerald Ridsdale discussed by the Ballarat Diocesan Consultors in 1977 and 82," the statement said.

"The Consultors who gave evidence on the meetings in 1977 and 1982 either said they did not learn of Ridsdale's offending against children until much later or they had no recollection of what was discussed.

"None said they were made aware of Ridsdale's offending at these meetings."




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