AUSTRALIA
Maribymong Weekly
By Goya Dmytryshchak
An Altona Meadows woman who spoke at last week’s Rally of Hope at Victoria’s Parliament House has criticised Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s defence of Cardinal George Pell over the Catholic Church’s handling of child sex abuse.
Mairead Ashcroft addressed Wednesday’s rally (pictured), which coincided with the tabling of a state government report on clergy and non-religious institutions’ child sex abuse.
Ms Ashcroft gave evidence before the Victorian inquiry into the handling of child abuse that she had been abused by Catholic brother Bernard Hartman, from age 8 to 11.
Hartman, 73, has been charged with 14 counts of indecent assault and is scheduled to face court next Thursday.
The day after the rally, Mr Abbott told Fairfax radio that he ‘‘had a lot of time for Cardinal Pell”. Mr Abbott said he hadn’t read the parliamentary report, which states Cardinal Pell’s evidence revealed “a reluctance to acknowledge and accept responsibility for the Catholic Church’s institutional failure to respond appropriately to allegations of criminal child abuse”.
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