Former priest says Pell verdict will not create change within the Catholic Church

BURNIE (AUSTRALIA)
The Advocate

February 27, 2019

By Emily Jarvie

Former Catholic Priest Julian Punch said the Catholic Church needs to be deconstructed, following the finding of prominent member Cardinal George Pell guilty of multiple counts of child sexual abuse.

“It needs to be a different church,” Mr Punch said.

“The church has really got to the stage where it is just a group of elderly men who are in denial and who’ve used the church in terms of a power base. They’re certainly not representing any Christian spirit.

“I’ve got a deep spirituality and I don’t see it at all represented in the Catholic Church.

“Besides the survivors of sexual abuse, there’s many, many other people that are survivors in terms of the Catholic Church.”

Mr Punch said he did not think the Pell verdict would encourage any change within the church.

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