Wednesday 27 February 2019

Some years ago I recall writing to the current Bishop of Cairns about various goings on in the Church etc more to do with persecuting folk who wanted euthanasia, and ending the letter with the biblical quote "Suffer little children to come unto me." He replied and invited me around for a talk and a cup of tea...and we had a cuppa and talked about my main interest at that time...the interplay between palliative care and euthanasia...and when he was pretty sure I had no evidence or no grist about child sexual abuse to discuss, he kind of lost interest. Nice man. Good wine cellar. (The bishops know a good red). He gave a big 'loan' of money to a guy who complained about sexual abuse, and gave the guy a job polishing the doorknobs of the cathedral in Cairns, just being kind. A few thousand dollars for polishing knobs seemed appropriate. I thought that was nice of him. ............ The problematic thing for the Church is that Cardinal Pell constructed the still operating legal rules (The Melbourne Defence) for dealing with child sexual abuse victims, and broke the Australian church into small little boxes who had very limited responsibility on a corporate basis, but thus shielding Rome from any financial unpleasantness at all. Pell is a savvy and Smart fellow.


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