LITTLE ROCK (AR)
Bilgrimage
March 8, 2019
By William Lindsey
Another set of items that have gotten my attention lately, with a theme binding theme together:
Patrick Parkinson, “The Cardinal and Mr Anonymous: George Pell’s defenders mustn’t repeat the mistakes of the past”:
And yet there is something troubling about the one-sidedness of the defence of Cardinal Pell by Catholic commentators; for while we have heard the Cardinal’s angry denials in a police interview, and while so many words have been written in criticism of the verdict by influential friends and supporters, there is one voice that has not been heard: that of his accuser. The criticisms of the verdict are implicitly denunciations of this man as well as of the anonymous jury members who took so long to consider the evidence before handing down their verdict. …
Why do I speak up for him? Because the Christian faith requires me to treat everyone as equal in God’s eyes, whether they are princes of the Church or anonymously ordinary. Because I know how hard it is for victims of sexual crimes to get through the multiple stages of the criminal trial process. Because I know the different ways in which, through intensive and lengthy cross-examination, defence counsel seeks to undermine the victim’s credibility. Because in nearly twenty-five years of engagement with the issue of child sexual abuse in church communities, I know how often men like this complainant have not been listened to. And because I recall how often I have heard from senior Catholic leaders that the scurrilous accusations being made by victims are an attack on the Church; or that complainants are just making up claims in order to get compensation.
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