AUSTRALIA
ABC – The Drum
OPINION
By Cathy Humphreys
Victims of child sexual abuse have reason to feel disappointed by George Pell’s testimony so far at the Royal Commission, writes Cathy Humphreys.
“It was a sad story and not of much interest to me.”
There are moments in Cardinal George Pell’s testimony when you realise that he is telling the truth.
In the 1970s, Pell was an ambitious young priest who had returned to Australia, fresh from Oxford, wanting to be a man of power and influence in the church.
The lives of vulnerable young people and their families held little interest for him. Inconvenient truths about paedophile brothers and priests were best avoided by a man on the make.
This is not the sort of ‘truth’ that the victims of child sexual abuse in Ballarat at the hands of the priests and brothers who presided over churches, schools and residential children’s homes would be hoping for.
The truth about the things George Pell knew about the abusive brothers he lived and worked with would be high on their agenda. Thus far, they have been disappointed.
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