Cardinal Pell on the Stand

By Madonna King
SBS
December 4, 2015

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/12/04/comment-cardinal-pell-stand

Cardinal George Pell, Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy of the Holy See, at the Vatican in March 2014. (AFP)

How will Cardinal George Pell acknowledge the right of a mother to school her children in the Catholic faith, without abuse, asks Madonna King.

Chrissie Foster remembers her husband Anthony handing George Pell a photograph of their daughter Emma. Her arms and wrists were bloodied; the tell-tale signs that she wanted the torture that followed years of abuse to stop.

“I wanted to explain to him how Emma was telling the truth - she was only 14 or 15 at the time,’’ Chrissie tells me. “I wanted to break through this clerical belief that victims are liars and were after money.

“I thought if I could speak to him and tell him about Emma and how I was a good Catholic ... I did lots of things around the Parish...that I wasn’t the enemy, and that this had happened to my daughter.’’