Child Abuse Inquiry: Cardinal George Pell Bribery Allegations to Be Investigated

World Today
May 21, 2015

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2015/s4165704.htm

ELEANOR HALL: But we begin today at the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse in Ballarat.

The head of the commission has put the Catholic Church on notice that the allegations made against Cardinal George Pell will be investigated.

A witness yesterday gave evidence that Cardinal Pell had tried to bribe one victim in the 1990s to keep quiet about his abuse.

Another victim alleged that he told George Pell in the 1970s of the abuse at St Patricks College in Ballarat.

Overnight, Cardinal Pell denied those claims.

Samantha Donovan is at the hearings in Ballarat and joins us now with the latest.

Samantha, what exactly did the royal commission chairman say about these allegations made against Cardinal Pell?

SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Well, the Catholic Church, Eleanor, at these Ballarat hearings has instructed its lawyers not to challenge the survivor witnesses about their accounts of abuse at the hands of priests and nuns at institutions in Ballarat and when those serious allegations were made against Cardinal Pell yesterday it was clear the royal commission chairman, Justice Peter McClellan was surprised that the church's lawyers weren't going to cross-exam those two witnesses on their accounts and Justice McClellan has raised those concerns again this morning and he emphasised that the royal commission is conducting an investigation and will be making findings.

As you said Cardinal Pell has again denied those allegations of bribery and knowledge of the abuse overnight and the church's lawyers have indicated this morning he'd be very willing to provide a statement to the commission.

These hearings in Ballarat are being conducted in two blocks - three weeks now and two weeks later in the year so I think we can expect that Cardinal Pell will have to provide his statement to the commission for that second block of hearings and perhaps even be called to give evidence.

ELEANOR HALL: And have any of the witnesses this morning said any more about Cardinal Pell?

SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Yes, we've heard from an abuse survivor, Paul Tatchell this morning. He's described his brutal childhood, having been beaten both at home and then by the priests at St Patrick's College in Ballarat where he was a boarder.

He described himself as being a pretty street-wise child by the age of about 12. He gave evidence about the abuse of boys at the school by Father Edward Dowlan and told the commission he was raped by Dowlan.

Mr Tatchell told the commission he was pretty tough and has come through the abuse, he said, to have a great life. He said it's not where you start, it's where you finish.

But this is what he told the commission about his feelings towards the Catholic Church.

PAUL TATCHELL: The Catholic Church is like any other organisation or business - the buck has to stop somewhere, and in Australia it's George Pell. He may not have the intestinal fortitude or the ability to see beyond his own vanity but it's his ambition that got him there and it will take his humility to get him out of there.

Time will tell if George can find an ounce of the courage, an ounce of the courage he'll bear witness to throughout these proceedings.

You cannot seek atonement when you're still in denial.

I think it's time George Pell stopped looking in the mirror and had a look out the window. Whilst he turns the legal defence into spaghetti, Rome's still burning.

ELEANOR HALL: That's rape victim, Paul Tatchell giving his evidence to the royal commission in Ballarat today.

Samantha, who else has come before the commission this morning?

SAMANTHA DONOVAN: We've also heard from another abuse survivor, Stephen Woods, this morning. There were seven children in Mr Woods' family. Three of the boys were sexually abused by priests; including Edward Dowlan and Father Robert Best, they were teachers at St Alipius Primary School and St Patrick's College.

Mr Woods is quite a significant witness because he's been lobbying for a royal commission into Catholic Church clerical abuse since the late 1990s and helping other victims come forward to tell their stories.

You could see how important a moment it was to him this morning to take to the witness stand at the royal commission today.

He gave very emotion evidence about the effect the abuse has had on his life. He said it robbed him of his potential and he said devastated his once very Catholic family.

He described to the commission his abuse at the age of 12 at the hands of the principal of St Alipius Primary School, Father Robert Best.

STEPHEN WOODS: Brother Robert Best, who was my class teacher and also the school headmaster, starting putting his fingers down the back of my pants and playing between my buttocks. This occurred in the classroom at St Alipius, down the back of the room whilst we were both sitting on the art desk.

Looking back, I think I knew even as a young boy, that I was gay. I believe that Best got wind of this somehow and he wanted to know all the details.

I was 12 at the time and Best had me and another 12-year-boy enact a sexual act in front of him. Best told us to strip down to our underpants, hold each other and reach around and grab each other's buttocks. We had to rub up against each other and Best knelt down to see if we got an erection.

He was playing with our genitals through our underpants while he did that.

ELEANOR HALL: That's Stephen Woods, another witness at the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse and our reporter Samantha Donovan covering those hearings into the abuse at Ballarat.