Crucial That Pell Gives Evidence to Commission

The Age
May 28, 2015

http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-age-editorial/crucial-that-pell-gives-evidence-to-commission-20150529-ghcoi4.html

Cardinal George Pell said this week he is prepared to return to Australia from the Vatican to give evidence in person to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, if he is officially requested to attend. This newspaper would be astounded were the royal commission not to make such a request, for Cardinal Pell's testimony may be a pivotal part of this important inquiry into one of this nation's darkest and most tragic chapters.

Cardinal Pell has had a distinguished career with the Catholic Church, including key leadership positions such as Archbishop of Sydney and Archbishop of Melbourne. He will have a crucial insight into its operations. Nor can he ignore the fact that his own time in Ballarat coincided with some of the worst abuses of children by other priests.

The royal commission this week held hearings in that city, and heard that Cardinal Pell once shared a home with other priests including one of the worst child sexual abusers in our history, Gerald Ridsdale. Indeed, Cardinal Pell gave public support to Ridsdale during a 1993 court appearance. Ridsdale, appearing via video link from jail, where he is serving a lengthy sentence for his appalling crimes, said that when he approached now-Cardinal Pell for that support, the church leader would have known the nature of the charges.

Counsel assisting the royal commission, Gail Furness, SC, described how the College of Consultors – a group of priests who advised Ballarat's then bishop, Ronald Mulkearns – decided to move Ridsdale between parishes. Cardinal Pell was for a time a member of that group. He has repeatedly denied knowing children were abused in Ballarat when he was there, yet his recollections of the time, and knowledge of the processes of the church, will be important information for the commission.

Throughout his two-day appearance this week, Ridsdale showed little remorse, or insight into the damage he and others like him have caused. It is the ultimate damage. Numerous victims of Ridsdale and other offending priests have died by suicide. Many more have endured years of suffering, shackled by the sheer trauma to which they were subjected by men they trusted.

It is important to state that most child sexual abuse is committed by family members and family friends. It is both a physical assault and an abuse of trust. Sadly, the response by the Catholic Church to the transgressions of its priests has been dreadful. For his part, right up until the royal commission was called in late 2012, Cardinal Pell maintained there was no need for it.

He remains unenthusiastic. He has claimed his church is being unfairly targeted, that his church is not "the only cab on the rank". He is right; most churches and secular institutions, particularly orphanages, have had perpetrators, which is why the royal commission has a broad brief. But it is also true that the Catholic Church has been disproportionately represented: its clergy offended at six times the rate of all the other churches put together. That was provided in evidence to the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into how the churches handled child sexual abuse, which preceded the royal commission.

At the Victorian inquiry, Cardinal Pell likened his church's responsibility for the behaviour of clergy to that of a "trucking company". Yet the leader of a trucking company whose drivers committed terrible crimes would resign or be forced to leave, and might also face criminal investigation. Cardinal Pell has been a leader in an organisation that has sought to minimise the damage to itself. It is an organisation that even protected perpetrators. His testimony should be heard by the royal commission.