Coming out of Cardinal Pell's shadow

By Chris Mcgillion
Eureka Street
February 25, 2014

http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=39025#.UwyUTvldWa8

When it was announced in 2001 that Melbourne Archbishop George Pell was to be made Archbishop of Sydney, the incumbent, Cardinal Edward Clancy, said Pell was 'a controversial figure, and controversial figures generally create a few enemies as well as friends along the way'.

Pell's latest promotion, to head an important new office in Rome with authority over all financial matters within the Vatican, is proof of the powerful friends he has made. Pell's appointment as Cardinal Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy was approved by Pope Francis — the third pontiff to have demonstrated extraordinary confidence in Pell's abilities since he was made Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne at the comparatively young age of 46 years in 1987.

As for enemies, it is not hard to compile a list of those who will be glad to see Pell go. It would include most liberal Catholics, many priests who have served under him (one of whom once described him as 'a memory of all those silly stereotypes of authority that used to haunt us as children'), and many of his fellow bishops, who saw him as too eager to please Rome and too prone to do his own thing without acting in concert with them.

Aside from a few extremely conservative Catholic groups that he has favoured, one group that is likely to regret Pell's departure are those journalists and commentators for whom he has loomed large as a figure of ridicule, especially over the issue of clerical sexual abuse. The reason for this has nothing to do with any proven remiss on Pell's part and everything to do with what attracts media attention to him.

By any standards, Pell is the kind of tall poppy people in the media love to cut down. He is the highest profile leader of any church in Australia. He is not shy of media attention. He never takes a step backwards in defending traditional Church teachings and legitimate Church interests. And, publicly at least, he stands his ground in the kind of imperious way that easily invites the charge that he is out of touch, arrogant, and a bully.

Yet Pell has not actually achieved much in terms of his ambition to restore unity to the Church and restore the confidence of 'rattled' Catholics. His star has risen in an age when Australian Catholics ceased to be a tightly-knit community of largely Irish working-class migrants and their offspring dependent on Church resources such as schools to climb the social ladder; when weekly Mass attendance collapsed to around 12 per cent of the nominal faithful; when Church appeals to authority attract derision where they are not entirely ignored. These are not circumstances in which anyone, much less Pell, was likely to turn things around.

As for Sydney, prior to Pell it had a reputation for a pragmatic approach to Catholicism befitting the nation's oldest, largest and most diverse city. This expressed itself in a degree of tolerance for the innovations of its clergy, for a benign acknowledgement (in practical terms if not official pronouncements) that homosexuals are part of the fabric of the city's Catholic community, and in a lack of enthusiasm for the old Catholic tribal displays of more sectarian times. Much has changed in 13 years and it is unlikely this approach can be retrieved.

In this sense, Pell's departure is unlikely to make too much immediate difference to the complexion of the Church in Australia. Out of his shadow, other bishops individually — and collectively — may breathe a little easier, may feel a little less pressured to toe Rome's line, may show a greater unity in managing the Church's affairs nationally than they have done for almost 20 years.

But let's not forget that key members of the hierarchy are former Pell offsiders — among them Archbishop Dennis Hart of Melbourne, Archbishop Julian Porteous of Hobart, Bishop Anthony Fisher of Parramatta — and that even if Pope Francis is more inclined than his predecessors to take the advice of the local hierarchy in selecting Pell's replacement, the ranks of the available talent from which to choose him are limited. Pell may soon be gone but his impact on the Church in Australia is likely to linger.