As long as Pell is protected by the Pope no one can trust the catholic church

Guest Author Uncategorized

Today’s Guest Author is Jennifer Wilson, with her take on Cardinal Pell and the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse. Thank you, Jennifer, and you are definitely not alone.

BK:

Father Doyle, the CA Royal Commission witness from the US, was superb. His honesty and compassion were most evident. He gave many reasons for the behaviour of priest and the church and what needs to be changed.

The commissioners really appreciated his testimony. Doyle was effusive with praise for the establishment and conduct of the RC and on behalf of the “good” clergy in the US he expressed heartfelt thanks for what they are doing and how they are going about it. He said that of all the similar inquiries around the world this RC stands out and its findings and deliberations will be so important in the future.

Eat your heart out Pontificating Paul Kelly and your ilk!

The Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane, Mark Coleridge, this morning expressed his horror and outrage at the latest report from the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse on the extent of that abuse within his church.

The Archbishop was at pains to reassure listeners that after years of intense and ongoing scrutiny (thanks to former Prime Minister Julia Gillard ordering the Royal Commission which catholic MP Tony Abbott and his catholic henchman did everything possible to sabotage) catholic schools are by now among the safest possible places for your child to be.

While he might have a point he is missing the point: the former head of the church in Australia, Cardinal George Pell, is himself under investigation both for alleged child sexual abuse, and for his role in covering up the offences of other priests.

Cardinal Pell is currently in Rome, in a position that keeps him very close to Pope Francis. Victorian Police yesterday submitted a second brief of evidence against the Cardinal to the DPP. The Vatican is a sovereign state from which Pell cannot be extradited. When last required to appear before the Royal Commission, Pell pleaded a heart condition that left him unfit to fly long distances. He gave evidence via video link.

I would like to ask Archbishop Coleridge how anyone can trust the catholic church in Australia when its former head is under the protection of the Pope. I’m struggling to imagine this situation in a secular organisation in which 7% of employees were guilty of sexually abusing children, and 4,400 alleged cases of child sexual abuse had been brought against it.

Both these figures are conservative: how many victims have not made complaints? How many have suicided? How many made complaints that were mishandled by the church, or dismissed?

As a fish rots from the head, so has the catholic church. I’m neither heartened nor impressed by various catholic clergy and lay commentators wringing their hands at the awfulness of it all. Had it not been for an atheist ordering an investigation, this would still be hidden, and the perpetrators still protected.

I’m willing to bet a great deal that no one, but no one inside the church would have taken action to prevent the sexual abuse of children, or to instigate useful investigations that resulted in prosecutions, and demands for moral accountability.

This will not be over until those at the highest level are held accountable, including the Pope. Until churchmen and catholic commentators are willing to acknowledge that accountability starts at the head, nobody is safe in the catholic system, and the fish continues to stink.

329 thoughts on “As long as Pell is protected by the Pope no one can trust the catholic church”

  1. If Turnbull wants to get nasty and hurl insults at Shorten then it’s only fair we take a good look at his very shady past.

    From Kangaroo Court, last year. (I know, I know, but it’s worth a read.)

    Malcolm Turnbull: The frivolous litigant who “poisoned the fountain of justice” said Judge Hunt.
    https://kangaroocourtofaustralia.com/2016/06/04/malcolm-turnbull-the-frivolous-litigant-who-poisoned-the-fountain-of-justice-said-justice-hunt/

    Thanks to whoever posted this link in the comments to today’s Guardian Politics Live.

  2. http://www.farmonline.com.au/story/4456137/rod-culletons-madcap-return-to-canberra/

    “Despite the high profile controversy of his expulsion from parliament – exacerbated by the Federal Court also ruling last Friday that it had rejected his appeal on a bankruptcy ruling handed down on December 23 last year – Mr Culleton was in high demand by press gallery media, holding several television interviews.

    But his presence also alerted parliament house security and Senate officials, who shadowed him around the house throughout the day, concerned he may try and break internal rules; including those regarding media access rights, for non-members.

    In a heated Facebook post, filmed in the office of Queensland rural independent MP Bob Katter, Mr Culleton said he had returned to Canberra to watch the opening of the Senate and to see Mr Katter about issues concerning a farm foreclosure.

    In the post, he claimed Mr Katter was also on the telephone – seated on the background – speaking to Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce, trying to resolve the foreclosure of a grazing property near Pentland, in Queensland.

    It’s understood the farm is that of Nolene Bradshaw who reportedly offered to pay $300,000 to try and remove Mr Culleton’s bankruptcy debt, in a last ditch bid to try and keep him in parliament last month, amid other fundraising efforts.”

    More in the article, worth a read.

  3. Buried in the new mega bill is a measure that would force those aged 22-24 off the dole (Newstart) and onto Youth Allowance.

    f the legislation is passed, people aged 22-24 would not get the option of applying for Newstart, and would instead stay on Youth Allowance until they are 25.

    It just so happens Youth Allowance pays significantly less than Newstart.

    For example, a single person on Newstart currently gets $529 per fortnight, while on Youth Allowance they get $437.

    The changes mean young people aged between 22-24 will be paid at least $92 per fortnight less.

  4. I love watching these things unfold. The media have reacted with their guts, as you’d expect, and they’ve all followed each other heaping praise on Turnbull for unleashing his ‘inner mongrel’ on us, or some such claptrap. But the measured responses are starting to come in. Including:

    – Turnbull is attacking Shorten for qualities nobody has accused Shorten of having. He’s never been lambasted for being a sycophant or a social climber, so clever as the accusations might look, they have no substance and will wash out very quickly

    – Turnbull’s performance shapes up very badly against the measuring stick for this sort of thing, Gillard’s misogyny speech against Abbott

    – Wait a minute, isn’t all this shouting just a cover for some nasty bills being introduced into Parliament today?

    – Having been kicked around like an old dog by Trump, Turnbull’s simply taking his frustration out on the nearest thing handy.

    – Shorten attacked Turnbull’s policies. Turnbull attacked Shorten personally. Bad look for a PM.

  5. http://insidestory.org.au/the-long-liberal-split

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/feb/08/derryn-hinch-backflip-on-abbc-may-disadvantage-some-building-companies

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-08/indigenous-advisory-council-refreshed-with-new-membership/8252736

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-08/government-keeps-child-dental-scheme-at-$1,000-per-child/8252826

    Also, see this on Steve Bannon’s links with conservative anti-Francis catholics

  8. All that today’s speech showed today is that Turnbull is very, very scared of, and very, very annoyed by Bill Shorten.

  9. I really did have foie gras for tea tonight, because I found the last souvenir of my trip to Dordogne tin at the back of the cupboard, but even I struggled with the reference to crystal.

    It’s $299 a bottle at Dan Murphy

  12. billie11

    Cristal a couple of years back was all the rage among Rappers and assorted ‘uncouth’ young nouveau riche wannabe’s . Truffles, thinking himself ever so clever, probably decided on using that brand due to such “riff faffian” connections rather than use a name more familiar to the plebs like Dom Perignon. ………….Orrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr it is the first name that came to mind due to his having a cellar full of it 🙂

  15. From Possum

    Possum Comitatus ‏@Pollytics 3h3 hours ago
    The only part of #qt anyone will see is a grab of a rich, cranky PM yelling that someone else is getting above their station o_O

  20. Well, that confirms it. I always thought Cristal was Trumble’s favourite drink. It fits with his ugly faux Spanish mansion and his overall ‘I have buckets of money and I want to to know that’ crassness.

    Forget that Chinese herbal tea, we all know what he keeps hidden in the fridge in his boathouse.

    i think I mentioned Trumble kicking back by his pool with a nicely chilled bottle of Cristal sometime during the summer holidays.

  21. Leone,

    The only reason I can offer for trump’s and trumble’s not being soul mates is that trump is yuugely wealthier than the little aussie battler.

  22. It seems Luke Hartsuyker, aka ‘Pruneface’ toyed with the idea of turning indie after the next election and demanded a ministry as the price for not jumping ship. The Nats should have let him go.

    http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/luke-hartsuyker-nats-defection-threat-to-turnbull/news-story/eeb40512b350bd530f175831ac63103d

    Funny, isn’t it? Pruneface based his whole election campaign around the dangers of electing an independent – Rob Oakeshott – and then he decided that he too might become a politically unstable indie.

    What a blooming idiot.

    Here’s Oakeshott’s take on it all.
    http://www.oakeshott.com.au/news/an-expensive-mistake-for-the-nationals

    Today Pruneface has denied it ever happened. i don’t believe him.
    http://www.coffscoastadvocate.com.au/news/hartsuyker-slams-fake-news-report-on-party-defecti/3140894/

  23. “Forget that Chinese herbal tea, we all know what he keeps hidden in the fridge in his boathouse.”
    .
    We do indeed 🙂

    Further back are his
    Krug Clos du Mesnil

  27. Moar from Pos

    Alexander White ‏@alexanderwhite 1h1 hour ago
    Seems Turnbull abandoned his so-called “statesman” persona today… Did the focus groups say they wanted to see a bit of mongrel?

    Possum Comitatus ‏@Pollytics 1h1 hour ago
    @alexanderwhite No focus group reflective of a wider public has ever said that, about any politician, ever

  30. Australia saw the real fizza today – a vindictive, spiteful, nasty, jealous, envious bully boy.

    Moi is only surprised insofar as he was so public about it.

  33. As Iran Dumps Dollar, Congress Quietly Slips in Bill for ‘Use of Force Against Iran’

    On March 21, The Islamic Republic of Iran will cease using the U.S. dollar in all of its financial reporting. The decision to stop using the dollar as a reference has been in the works for some time but was expedited after the Trump administration decided to include Iran as one of the seven countries banned from entering the United States.

    Iranian PressTV reported, “Valiollah Seif, the governor of the Central Bank of Iran, was quoted by domestic media as saying that Iran would either replace the US dollar with a new common foreign currency or use a basket of currencies in all official financial and foreign exchange reports.”…

    … if Iran goes ahead with its plan to replace the dollar in its monetary system, the country’s theocratic leaders run the risk of falling victim to U.S. vengeance.

    In fact, the United States is already preparing for potential conflict with Iran, the US has introduced H.J.Res.10 – Authorization of Use of Force Against Iran Resolution.

    This resolution was quietly introduced last month with absolutely no media attention in spite of the fact that it “authorizes the President to use the U.S. Armed forces as necessary in order to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.”

    http://thefreethoughtproject.com/iran-dollar-trump-war/

  34. Neocons are mad and sad because Tulsi Gabbard is kicking their butts

    The Neocons know very well that they don’t have decent arguments. They start from an essentially diabolical ideology and then try to forge vacuous and incoherent statements from that ideology, which they hope would convince the masses.

    Hawaii Congresswoman has already left an indelible mark on the Neocons, and they don’t like it one bit. They can’t really dismiss her cogent claim because Gabbard is also an Iraq war veteran and has witnessed the disastrous effect of the Iraq war.

    The Neocons know very well that they don’t have decent arguments. They start from an essentially diabolical ideology and then try to forge vacuous and incoherent statements from that ideology, which they hope would convince the masses.

    For example, if you ask flaming Neocon like Lee Smith why the US should overthrow Assad, he will tell you crazy and weird things such as Assad “is responsible for more than 400,000 deaths in Syria.”[1] In other words, whoever dies in the region, then Assad must take the responsibility.

    Smith also believes that Gabbard has been sleeping with “anti-Semitic” organizations such as the Arab American Community Center for Economic and Social Services. Smith also seems to be upset because Gabbard attacked his wicked ideology in Syria. In her legislation, which is called the “Stop Arming Terrorist Act,” Gabbard declares that the legislation

    “would prohibit the U.S. government from using American taxpayer dollars to provide funding, weapons, training, and intelligence support to groups like the Levant Front, Fursan al Ha and other allies of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, al-Qaeda and ISIS, or to countries who are providing direct or indirect support to those same groups.”

    Obviously Smith and other Neocons don’t like that because they have been supporting their terrorist buddies in Syria since the beginning of the war. Gabbard, like the vast majority of Americans, does not like perpetual wars in the Middle East. She doesn’t like the US to continue to be dragged into a prolonged conflict with Muslim or Arab countries, a disastrous enterprise which has already cost America and much of the West dearly.

    http://www.veteranstoday.com/2017/02/06/neocons-are-mad-and-sad-because-tulsi-gabbard-is-kicking-their-butts/

  35. Trump blurts out the truth about US killings and the media goes wild

    7 February 2017

    The furor unleashed by the remarks of President Donald Trump in response to Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly’s calling Russian President Vladimir Putin “a killer” during an interview broadcast Sunday has continued to reverberate, drawing hypocritical condemnations from leading figures in both the Republican and Democratic parities.

    In response to O’Reilly’s denunciation of Putin, Trump stated: “There are a lot of killers. We’ve got a lot of killers. What, do you think our country’s so innocent?”

    Trump went on to cite Iraq in support of his statement. O’Reilly’s face went slack. He clearly did not know what to say. The new leader of the “Free World” had wandered seriously off message…

    The official posture of outrage over Trump’s off-hand comment will have little effect on the broader public. Do the politicians and media really believe that the public is so naïve and its memory so short? The United States is a country where The Bourne Identity­ and its innumerable sequels–whose basic premise is that the US government is run by murderers–are among the most popular movies of the last twenty years. This premise is well grounded in fact. Over the past 70 years, presidents and other high government officials have been implicated in the authorization and implementation of countless atrocities. Many of these crimes have been substantiated in official government reports and congressional hearings.

    http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/02/07/pers-f07.html

  37. Yep
    .

    Bernard Keane‏ @BernardKeane
    I do like Turnbull’s argument that only rich people should be PM since all other aspirants simply yearn to live in taxpayer-funded luxury.

  38. Fiona
    ‘
    Confirming that Fairfax is NewsCorpse Lite.’
    .
    Meeja have always been about the peeps that own it. So the Plutocrat Liberation Front owners almost always go on a unity ticket when push comes to shove.work

  39. Donald Trump dignity has been ‘swept away’, Chinese judge says in response to criticism of James Robart

    A judge in China’s top court has labelled Donald Trump an enemy “of the rule of law” over his insults directed at a US judge who temporarily blocked the President’s travel ban, saying Mr Trump had set a poor example as head of the world’s leading democracy.

    He said Mr Trump had set a poor example and lost respect for having “led the way in insulting a judge, with the vice president and his political party swarming to his defence [and] in a country known as the most democratic and most respectful of the rule of law”.

    “The president who would curse a judge and the thug who would kill a judge are both public enemies of the rule of law,” He wrote, referencing the recent murder of a retired judge in southern China.

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-07/donald-trump-an-enemy-of-the-rule-of-law-chinese-judge-says/8249680

  40. After all that, you’ll probably need a laugh. Here’s Katharine Murphy putting in an application for pulp novelist:

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/feb/08/turnbull-unleashed-after-months-of-frustration-the-pm-finally-lets-rip?CMP=share_btn_tw

    Highlights:

    Seven months of pure frustration and fury lifted him to his feet. It was a levitation, a daylight miracle. His shoulders squared, rigid, the voice strained as he unleashed on the Labor leader.

    And:

    The Turnbull lightning strike parted the surly clouds, and the rain was relief.

    Government MPs leaned forward, knees were slapped, raucous laughter swelled and filled the cavernous space. Barnaby Joyce flushed, vermillion in this case, the colour of pure pleasure.

    And:

    On Wednesday in Canberra, we saw exactly the same dynamic as Gillard on misogyny day – a moment of pure human unleashing to briefly banish a parliamentary life of constant restraint, and constant grinding adversity.

    And the coup de grace:

    And so it was with Turnbull on Wednesday – it wasn’t a triumph speech, it wasn’t a speech delivered by the master of his domain to an audience inclined to hang on his every word.

    It was a speech of a politician who knows everything is ranged against him, that adversity sits in front of him, and poison and dysfunction behind; and the only option open to him, after reason, flattery, and crouching compromise has failed to deliver the breakthrough, is to lock your jaw, find the primal growl, and punch your way out of a corner.

    Now, what saw that thing Turnbull was saying about sycophancy again?…

  41. Wish me luck folks. They have brought my surgery ahead a week and I undergo the knife first thing in the morning.

    I have to attend the surgical ward at 6.00am and get ready for a 5 hour operation. I am seriously stressed about it at the moment & have no idea if I will be able to get a reasonable sleep tonight.

    There is nothing about this operation or the recovery period that I am looking forward to and I’m sick to the stomach right now.

    All going well, I may be able to give you an update from my mobile phone in a couple of days. At least the Mater Hospital here has free Wi Fi but seems to like having I’m a celebrity, get me out of here or whatever it’s called on their TV screens every-time I am there.

    No wonder I don’t watch TV anymore.

    • Best of luck, Scorps. Always a lot of apprehension with these things. So your concerns are perfectly understanderstandable. You’re a fighter, though, with good family support. So I’d be fairly confident.

      With me they still haven’t got to the bottom of what’s causing the swelling in my neck. I was in Warrnambool today seeing the specialist. She is excellent quality but after various tests still needs to know more. She has booked me in for biopsy surgery which she’ll lead.

      One problem which deceived me originally was that there are two lumps. The visible one has shrunk since its first appearance and is only about the size of a squash ball. That is probably why I thought I’d won the battle. The other one is further back and not visible but very clear in scanning. This is perhaps her biggest worry because it stretches around to my jawline towards my ear. She is hoping this is not a tumor, which would needs further surgery and be difficult to treat. There are quite a few possibilities on what the lumps could be, but tumor is regarded as the only dangerous one.

      These surgeons seem to like their early hours. I’m in for 7am on 21st February, which means I’ll have to travel to Warrnambool the night before and then stay again overnight after my day in theatre.

      The stangest part of this whole sage is that the anti-biotics program they put me on a few weeks ago did not resolve the mystery of the lumps. But it did transform my health in other respects. I have better foot and general balance now than I had before I got ill. My concentration, and in particular my reading and writing, are back to near peak. When I was ill with a virus and fatigue my biggest worry was it would not return.

      Sim, who has even more value to me as a caring wife because of her nursing skills and cooking hobbies. She thinks I’m in better shape now than I have been since she first met me. So it is encouraging as long as this neck swelling doesn’t come to anything.

  43. Scorpio,

    A zillion hugs.

    You will be fine.

    We are all looking forward to seeing you in a few days.

    Lots of love.

    Fiona

  44. So what does Turnbull do now?

    If he repeats today’s performance it’s going to look pretty stupid, he risks being called a once trick pony or an angry old man. Boring as. If he doesn’t do a repeat performance his media fan club are going to ask where Mongrel Malcolm went.

    Once again he has trapped himself.

    Why don’t the PG mob ever ask where his policies are?

    • My guess is if it happens tomorrow he won’t speak. He’ll get someone else to do it.

      He’s got a problem though, in that that more he claims Shorten is a wannabe/sycophant/parasite, the more people are going to question just what the hell he’s on about. First time’s a charm, because it’s unexpected and people go with the sensation over the substance. But only good policy can follow a tirade like that – after all, politics is still mostly about policy, no matter how much colour and movement there might be – and Turnbull doesn’t have any good policy to go with.

    • Oh, and we’ll wait and see what the washout is. If the public response doesn’t match the press gallery’s reaction, and Turnbull’s approval stays where it is or goes backwards, well then Labor know how to push his buttons and they’ll be doing it every chance they get. It’ll make things exponentially worse for him.

  46. Thank you all for the well wishes. Going to hit the sack now ready for the big adventure. A long time since I’ve had surgery. 1968 to be exact, so I’m a bit inexperienced in that regard. 😉

    Hopefully catch up with you all in a couple of days.

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