AUSTRALIA
The Age
Kristina Keneally
At one level, I always felt a bit of sympathy for Cardinal George Pell. He’s a product of a particular time and culture in the Catholic Church. I can’t imagine he was overjoyed as Bishop of Sydney to have me, a theologically-trained Catholic feminist Premier on his hands.
In the lead up to World Youth Day, the Cardinal and I were preparing to do a media event. I had advised him that I would open the press conference, and then throw to him. He said, “Minister, what would you like me to say?”
I replied, “Your Eminence, I’ve been waiting my whole life for a Cardinal to ask me that question.”
He looked at me blankly. “I’m sorry. I don’t understand. What do you want me to say?”
Some people swear the Cardinal has a great sense of humour. I suspect those people are men. In my interactions with him, I never saw evidence of it. …
Then, of course, there is the scandal of the sexual abuse of children.
As a mother and a Catholic, I am horrified by the abuse inflicted by Catholic priests and teachers on children in their care. I am further angered by an institution that failed to take these reports seriously and, in some cases, simply moved predators on to unsuspecting new parishes.
Some people have tried to implicate the Cardinal in these actions. Let me be clear. I make no accusation against Cardinal Pell when it comes to the sexual abuse crisis, except this one: that he has not responded well as a pastor, and that he lacks evident compassion and humility in the face of story after story of failure in the Catholic Church to deal with the sexual abuse of children.
Unfortunately, his public statements indicate an inclination to protect the institution rather than the vulnerable.
To be fair to our Ballarat-born Melbournian Cardinal, I don’t think he ever quite understood the egalitarian, pragmatic nature of Sydney or the lay of the media landscape here. Whereas Francis and John Paul II are natural media performers, Pell seemed to struggle to use the media to its best effect.
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