Cardinal George Pell (right), Archbishop of Sydney at a conference in Cork in 2011
“I am not going to talk about the Church in Ireland but I am going to talk about what I am trying to do in Australia, as an archbishop, and you can draw your own conclusions on what might, or what might not, be adaptable to here in Ireland.
Despite my English Protestant name (and I am proud of my English heritage) I have plenty of Irish blood, most of it Catholic, and so I think that entitles me to make the first point, and that is that we Irish Australians, and I suspect the Irish, enjoy bad news. It’s like the Englishman whose face will light up when he says, ‘Isn’t the weather terrible?’
This, then, is my question: has all the good Irish blood gone overseas into the colonies? The Irish that I grew up with were fighters: they were people who had convictions and went and battled for them.”
Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney on ‘Authentic Catholicism vs Cafeteria Catholicism’ at the Catholic Voice Annual Dinner in Cork in July, 2011.
Meanwhile…
Cardinal George Pell has been found guilty of sexual offences in Australia, making him the highest-ranking Catholic figure to receive such a conviction.
Pell abused two choir boys in the rooms of a Melbourne cathedral in 1996, a jury found. He had pleaded not guilty.
His trial was heard twice last year because a first jury failed to reach a verdict. The verdict was handed down in December, but it could not be reported until now for legal reasons.
A second jury unanimously convicted him of one charge of sexually penetrating a child under 16, and four counts of committing an indecent act on a child under 16.
Cardinal Pell on ‘Authentic Catholicism vs Cafeteria Catholicism’
Previously: I Do Not Like Thee Dr Pell
Thanks Mark Geary
So he was an authentic Catholic priest after all. What did he get anyway? 2 weeks community service?
He will be sentenced next week. I expect he will be treated more harshly than in Ireland – I hope to hell he rots in jail.
So… 3 weeks community service then.
And now we know why PR Pope Fran had the big Abuseapalooza Fest last week. Another sorry attempt to make the catholic church look like it cares about the victims of all the ordained abusers they’ve protected when in reality all it cares about is holding onto money and power.
”Abuseapalooza”
I’ll be using that one. Bigly.
You’re more than welcome.
good alright. beats electric abuse picnic or body of christ and soul
I think there were plenty other reasons why he would have called that meeting rather than just this – the verdict was common knowledge for months.
In Pell’s case Daisy, how has the church protected him? He’s been tried and convicted (and is reported to be appealing it).
Didn’t they keep him safe from justice in Rome for years? The coffers must be dwindling, so a few sacrifices had to be made. A big scalp like Pell will make it look like the church is doing something.
Did they? How come he’s in Australia now?
You seem to think the church protected him, but yet he’s tried, convicted and going to jail…pending sentence and appeal of course.
Francis doesn’t care about justice for his church’s victims. He’s made a lot of empty promises, even during his failed visit here, last year, but ultimately he prefers to blame “Satan” and society. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/24/pope-francis-calls-for-all-out-battle-against-abuse-of-children
The meetings last week were just more empty PR gestures.
I don’t necessarily disagree with you there Daisy.
But my question was around how is Pell being protected by the church, when he’s been tried and convicted? “Badly” would seem to be the answer. Or not at all.
My he die screaming for a pr……oh, wait.
Ha, that’s an expression I haven’t heard in years.
Considering how Pell rhymes with Hell; the Limericks will just write themselves?
I guess just go for die screaming. That’s what my grandfather wanted on his gravestone. He used to scoff at all the “peacefully” euphemisms.
I was once told by a solicitor who came from a family of undertakers that the slightly odd wording of the euphemisms in newspaper death notices is unique to each undertaker in a given district. “Deeply and sincerely regretted” might indicate one firm whereas “beloved [husband/wife/son] of […] will be sadly missed by…” might indicate another.
Supposedly it was so the undertakers could identify at a glance who was dealing with each funeral. I never payed enough attention to work out if it was true or not.
Ha! I was in college with a girl whose family are undertakers. Wonder if it’s the same person? She’s lovely.
She must have been well used to stiffs
Was she cold?
I would try and think of a smarter and more pithy response to the whole thing, but I’m too angry, so I’ll also go with hoping he dies screaming
Why reserve the screams for his deathbed? I hope he lives out his days screaming too.
“My uncle passed away peacefully in his sleep……..unlike the rest of his passengers on flight A158” !
In a priest driven ambulance
I hope his final months are spent in a state of terror.
No punishment is enough for this level of religious pedophile scum. How many children had their lives ruined because of this creep? The catholic church is a particularly immoral and disgusting abomination and should be stripped of all of its assets, have its wealth given to victims of abuse, and then destroyed.
Here is the convicted Paedophile saying mass a few years ago in a small north Cork Parish Church.
http://catholicheritage.blogspot.com/2017/07/latin-mass-in-ballyhea-feast-of-saint.html
More dominoes are falling
https://www.dailywire.com/news/43843/breaking-robert-kraft-not-biggest-name-involved-ryan-saavedra