News Cardinal George Pell will ask his lawyers to cross examine certain witnesses at the upcoming Royal Commission into Sexual Abuse has sent a shudder amongst many who may have given testimony at the highly sensitive but important hearings. However it should not be automatically assumed that Commission will be combative. This is a fact finding mission rather than a prosecution of any individual or institution. Only when that fact finding has been completed in its many and difficult forms, including the testimony of the victims and the important disclosure of hitherto concealed documents, can those conclusions and recommendations be made.
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The Cardinal has been accused of putting the reputation of the church first but he too must be heard if the commission is to serve in its ultimate purpose of shining a light on how these terrible things happened and how they can be prevented from ever happening again.
Moreover Cardinal Pell has been accused of several very serious charges including bribery. To accuse any man of this degree of negligence and culpability without an adequate avenue of defence could undermine the balance and potentially the validity of the whole commission. The Commission would fail in its role if it did not investigate the claims further and strive to get to the truth. If the public has an appetite for accusation, even revenge, it must not fall into the easy outcome of finding scapegoats. There is much more at stake here.
The terrible reputation of the church in handling these crimes, not just in Ballarat but across the world, has certainly created an atmosphere of suspicion and preemptive judgment. The Courier would ask for patience, even from those who have suffered longest, so that justice may be better served in the long run. This appeal is not to invalidate the questions the public wants to ask of Cardinal Pell and other church leaders nor in any way to lessen the importance of its victims testimony but to refocus on the commission’s higher purposes.
The disquiet is understandable nevertheless. Ballarat already knows the long trail of psychological destruction caused by sexual abuse. Like any case of sexual assault, uncovering the truth must not make the victims the accused. That is the heavy responsibility of the commissioners.
