Commission hearings' trail of collateral devastation

By Neil Ormerod
Eureka Street
April 2, 2014

http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=39203#.Uzv1EvldWa8

sMost of us who have worked in or near church institutions get used to a certain level of dysfunctionality: poor lines of communication, under-developed personal skills, the arbitrary use of power, the no-talk rule about controversial issues, lack of accountability and transparency, people rising above the level of their competence, and so on. In general we learn to tolerate it and work around it as best we can. At times, however, it comes together as a 'perfect storm' of dysfunctionality leading to incredibly damaging consequences for all concerned.

After listening to several hours of the Royal Commission into sexual abuse on the John Ellis case I would see this as one such occasion.

There was enormous damage done to John Ellis (pictured) in his attempts to get the Church to respond as the presence of Christ in the world. Despite repeated failures by Church authorities to deal adequately with his plight he continued to seek pastoral care, spiritual direction and finally legal mediation. It seems he wasn't recognised as a victim but as an adversary whom the Church needed to crush, a well-to-do lawyer after a pot of money. His was to be the corpse hanging outside the city gates as a warning to all who would attempt similar actions.

Damage was done to the reputations of various bit-players: John Davoran and Monsignor Brian Rayner who clearly did not have Cardinal Pell's confidence; the Cardinal's secretary Dr Michael Casey who was forced by the Commission to admit that the Church's actions were unjust; the solicitors from the Cardinal's legal team Coors who would have heard clearly the warning of Justice McClellan that saying they were following their client's instructions would be no defence. Many who faced the Commission's scrutiny emerged diminished persons.