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Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher defends Catholic Church and Cardinal George Pell over response to child abuse claims
By Kate Aubusson
Sydney's Catholic Archbishop Anthony Fisher has defended Cardinal George Pell over his handling of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. In a letter to Catholic schools and parishes in the Sydney diocese, Archbishop Fisher rebuffed allegations that the church used legal manoeuvres to protect itself from victim claims for compensation and applauded Pell for his handling of the child sexual abuse scandal. On Monday it emerged that Cardinal Pell visited Ballarat and a school at the centre of clergy abuse claims just weeks before the royal commission hearings began in the town. "Many things are being said about the church at the moment, some of them fair, some of them not so fair," Archbishop Fisher wrote in the letter, which he posted on Twitter. "It is alleged, for instance, that we are engaged in self-protective legal evasions. "In fact, my predecessor, Cardinal Pell, was the first Church leader in Australia to introduce a more contemporary process to confront this evil and he repeatedly apologized when mistakes were made," he said. The letter was read out in full at the end of mass at St Mary's Cathedral on Sunday, and the Archbishop and the Sydney archdiocese also tweeted a link to the letter Monday afternoon. A spokesperson for the Sydney archdiocese confirmed Archbishop Fisher was referring to the church's Towards Healing protocol and Melbourne Response, initiated under Cardinal Pell's leadership. The Towards Healing process encouraged victims to go to the police but also contained provisions to relocate clergy who had been implicated in child sexual abuse to other positions within the Catholic Church. Under the Melbourne Response, a panel provided ex-gratia compensation payments to victims, but once victims went to police they were no longer eligible for compensation. Public pressure is mounting for the cardinal to front the Ballarat hearings to answer claims that he attempted to bribe a victim to remain silent about a notorious paedophile priest in the town. Last week, the commission heard that Australia's most senior cleric ignored a victim's claims about a convicted child sex offender abusing students at St Patrick's College in the '70s and '80s. The commission also heard allegations from the nephew of notorious paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale that the cardinal tried to bribe him in 1993 to keep quiet about being abused Pell was pictured walking the halls of St Patrick's College in Ballarat with the school's headmaster, John Crowley, in the April edition of the school's magazine The Shamrock. The March 28 visit to the school coincided with a "short vacation to Australia" for Cardinal Pell, a former St Patrick's student, and involved talks of "an exciting new initiative" to promote excellence at the school, the magazine reported. "Cardinal Pell has long been a strong and passionate advocate of St Patrick's College and remains close friends with many of his former classmates from his time as a student here," Mr Crowley told The Shamrock. It had been seven years since the cardinal last visited St Patrick's College in Ballarat and although he has not yet been called to appear before the Ballarat hearing, victims of clergy abuse have argued he has an ethical obligation to attend. Cardinal Pell has repeatedly denied a church cover-up and although he and Ridsdale both attended St Patrick's and once shared a home together, he claims to have had no knowledge of Ridsdale's offending. Ridsdale is expected to give evidence from prison on Wednesday. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has called for Cardinal Pell to return to Australia to respond to the bribery allegations in person. Contact: kate.aubusson@fairfaxmedia.com.au
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