AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph
JORDAN BAKER, The Sunday Telegraph
February 11, 2017
ASHAMED. Humiliated. A kick in the guts. They’re some of the words Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher used to describe his reaction, and the reaction of many clergy, to new figures on the extent of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.
In a frank interview that shows a marked departure from his predecessor Cardinal George Pell’s aloof approach, Archbishop Fisher admitted that he and other clergy felt contaminated, betrayed and demoralised by the paedophiles in the church.
He understood why Australians felt so angry.
“I felt — probably this will be pretty universal among the bishops and the clergy — quite winded,” Archbishop Fisher said.
“We knew (the report) would be bad, but it’s humiliating, it’s harrowing,” Archbishop Fisher said.
“We all feel that the priesthood has been demeaned, that people’s trust has been broken, that confidence in us is understandably shaken.
“It really has hurt me and it has hurt a lot of priests and bishops, but that’s tiny compared with how it’s hurt the survivors.”
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