UNITED STATES
Ms. Magazine
April 10, 2020
By Zach Hiner, Executive Director of SNAP
On Monday, justices on Australia’s highest court decided to overturn a unanimous guilty verdict and free a man convicted of sexually abusing two young boys.
The news rocked the survivor community worldwide.
There is no shying away from the fact that the decision to overturn the conviction of Cardinal George Pell was a gut punch for survivors of clergy sexual abuse. The Pell case saw testimony from twelve witnesses, including the lone surviving victim. More accusers came later forward in the press and provided excruciating details of how the Cardinal manipulated them.
The detailed descriptions—like the pretext of chasing twenty cents in the priest’s swimming trunks in a community pool, being forced to fondle him in the process—cannot be fabricated. This is particularly true when more than one accuser reports similar assaults.
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