Pell has failed the church and its victims

Date

November 15, 2012

The cardinal’s lack of empathy reflects a leadership deficit.

THE Catholic cardinal, George Pell, is wrong on so many levels. In his response to the Gillard government’s decision to hold a royal commission, which will examine how allegations of sexual abuse were handled by Australian institutions, Dr Pell suggests the church has been unfairly targeted by the media. He claims it has been maligned by ”smears”, and that the extent of ”misdoing” inside the Catholic Church has been ”exaggerated”. He calls for statistics to demonstrate the media’s focus on the Catholic Church is out of proportion to the incidence of sexual abuse inside the church.

Statistics are one thing, but this is not a game of numbers. The church has attracted appropriate scrutiny for the appalling way that its leaders have handled allegations and evidence of sexual abuse in past years and more recently. It has, rightly, been strongly criticised for failing to do the proper, decent thing that any Australian would do, which is to report instances of criminal wrongdoing to the police.

Dr Pell bemoans how the church has been ”unable to convince public opinion” of its changed ways since 1996, when it put in place protocols for dealing with allegations of sexual abuse. On that much at least, Dr Pell is correct. It has failed to convince the public because there is plenty of evidence that all is not fixed. Victims of sexual abuse say as much, and so does Victoria Police, which told the state parliamentary inquiry how the Catholic Church hindered police investigations and dissuaded victims from reporting abuse. Police noted that not one of the hundreds of abuse allegations handled by the Catholic Church in Victoria has been referred by it to police. Serving NSW police officers also complain, saying the church has thwarted official investigations at every turn.

The Age has reported for more than a decade on sexual abuse in numerous institutions, not just those operated by the Catholic Church. It has exposed the profound lingering damage inflicted on victims, and it has revealed how such criminal acts were repeatedly covered up by the institutions. Yet Dr Pell and his advisers seem unable or unwilling to focus on the victims, the people who wrongly trusted the paedophiles inside the church.

The Catholic Church, along with every other institution that has been responsible for the care of young people in the past few generations, should be doing its utmost to assist abuse victims. But there was precious little in Dr Pell’s comments on Tuesday that reflected the traditional ideals of the Catholic Church, such as service and support to the vulnerable and oppressed, or equity and justice for all.

Here is the problem, Dr Pell. Your inordinate concern about the church’s image is, in these circumstances, offensive. It reflects hubris, not compassion. The church’s brand may be damaged, but so too are thousands of lives. Scores of sexual abuse victims have committed suicide; many more struggle to deal with the simple issues of everyday life. Instead of fretting about the church’s image, Dr Pell, you should have demonstrated unmitigated empathy. The church should be expressing in the most sincere and unqualified terms its abhorrence of such conduct, and its dual commitments to refer every case to police and to help ease victims’ suffering. Rather than defend a besieged citadel, Dr Pell, look outwards to see what you can do for the community. That is the essence of Catholic life.

Unfortunately, there was nothing in Dr Pell’s response to indicate he is the appropriate person to lead the Catholic community during this crisis or, indeed, to lead it forward. He was intractable, and The Age believes that is not what this church needs now or in the future.