ADELAIDE (AUSTRALIA)
News.Com.AU
February 27, 2019
By Phoebe Loomes
Two parents who reached out to Cardinal George Pell for help after their daughters were sexually abused by a Catholic priest have spoken about his “sociopathic lack of empathy”.
Chrissie and Anthony Foster said the Catholic leader “crushed” them when they went to see him in 1997 about the abuse of their daughters Emma and Katie by priest Kevin O’Donnell who presided over St Mary’s Church in Dandenong, Melbourne, from 1958 to 1986.
When the Fosters approached Archbishop Pell about the horrific sexual abuse of two of their three daughters, the couple said he “bullied” them, and they were shocked by his aggression.
“In our interactions with the now cardinal, Archbishop Pell, we experienced a sociopathic lack of empathy,” Mr Foster told the ABC’s 7.30 before his death in 2017.
“And when we went to them, went to George Pell, he just crushed us,” Ms Foster added. “He just bullied us and spoke over us.”
After being repeated raped by O’Donnell, Emma became addicted to drugs, had eating disorders and self-harmed before overdosing on medication at 26. Katie was hit by a car after a drinking binge in 1999, leaving her brain damaged.
Ms Foster expanded on her comments last night to Leigh Sales on ABC’s 7.30.
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