Thursday, June 29, 2017

Cardinal Pell charged with sex abuse

I have a longer post about this on my blog, but here's the story: Australian Cardinal and Aide to Pope Is Charged With Sexual Assault

Pell had been notorious in Australia for years for his treatment of sex abuse victims, as well as there having been rumors about he himself being an abuser, so it was just creepy when Pope Francis, certainly knowing of this, chose Pell for such important jobs in the Vatican. The Pope's own sex abuse commission suggested he fire Pell but Francis ignored them. Now Pell must go back to Australia for the investigation, but will Francis instead keep him safe from prosecution in the Vatican as he did with Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski?

More about Pell and sex abuse: interview with journalist David Marr from a few years ago ...

49 comments:

  1. Sexual Abuse and Financial Reform are the issues that have driven the negative press coverage of the Vatican ever since the death of JP2. Since Pell's case is likely to drag on for years, this means both sexual abuse and financial abuse will likely dominate Vatican Press coverage for that time. It looks a lot like Francis has failed to accomplish much on both items.

    On the other hand, Francis has the opportunity to replace two key conservatives at the Vatican, Pell and Muller, the CDF chief. That move in the next six months could reshape the narrative of reform at the Vatican.

    Francis make clear his mission as pope is far from ended.

    Taking as his text the reading of the day about God’s call to Abraham, as told in the book of Genesis, he reminded the cardinals that the patriarch was “more or less” the same age as he and them, that Abraham was “about to go on pension, to rest” when God called him.

    This homily on the anniversary of this episcopal consecration, which also marked the end of his exile from leadership in the Jesuits, has widely been interpreted as Francis declaration that he will not be defeated in the present circumstances.

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  2. Yeah, it would make a difference to get rid of Muller and Pell but I don't think Francis wants to get rid of either. Francis is seen by many as a reformer but I think he's actually quite conservative and he chose these two guys - brought Pell from Australia and made Muller a cardinal and kept him on as CDF head - because he likes them.

    Will he cut Pell loose now or will he keep in in non-extradition city with B16 and Cardinal Law, two others who could have faced sex abuse cover-up charges?

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  3. See also: https://international.la-croix.com/news/the-rise-and-fall-of-cardinal-george-pell/5443

    https://international.la-croix.com/news/cardinal-george-pell-charged-what-a-mess/5444

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  4. Rocco Palmo gives his take on the news:

    For The Cardinal-Prefect, "My Day in Court"

    Indeed, what makes the 76 year-old prelate's quick move to go home for an 18 July initial hearing so significant is that Pell has not returned to his homeland since departing in early 2014 to take up his Vatican post – neither for the late 2014 installation of his hand-picked successor in Sydney, Archbishop Anthony Fisher, nor for what became a four day summons to testify before the national inquiry on religious institutions' handling of child abuse, obtained by video link from Rome.

    Still, despite the inevitable circus that will surround the scrutiny on one of the top rank's most enduring figures – a presence on the global scene over some two decades – for the apex of the Catholic world, it just doesn't get more serious than this.

    For starters, even as Pell announced his own "leave" from his Vatican duties – and the Holy See's lead spokesman, Greg Burke, indicated that the cardinal would not "participate in public liturgies" for the duration of the judicial process – the moves amount to a de facto suspension from ministry.

    Regardless of whose volition spurred the act, a recusal of the kind is without precedent for a top Curial official

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  5. I've been following (and disliking) Pell for years now, since he gave a talk against the primacy of conscience in 2005 ... Cardinal Pell on True and False Conscience

    After that he was the head of Vox Clara, the group responsible for the horrible missal translation. Here's an article about that from Philip Endean SJ ... Worship and Power

    Then David Marr wrote about Pell and his handling of sex abuse in his The Prince: Faith, abuse, and George Pell (2012(. You can read an extract here but the video I posted has David Marr talking about the essay.

    Pell treated sex abuse victims and their families really badly. Because of Pell, and the Ellis case, it is almost impossible for victims to sue the church in Australia ... Cardinal Pell was 'giving instructions' as Catholic church fought abuse claims and more here Don't ring the bells yet. The Catholic church isn't planning to open its wallet

    It was the Royal Commission that brought all this stuff up again in public in 2013, thank God, and it found that ...

    - Seven percent of priests in Australia's Catholic Church were accused of sexually abusing children over the past several decades

    - And that ...

    37% of all private sessions royal commission held with survivors related to the Catholic church
    - The average age of alleged victims was 10.5 for girls and just over 11.5 for boys
    - In one order 40% of religious brothers are believed to have abused children


    It's just incredible to me that Pope Francis picked this guy to be one of the group of his eight advisors and his financial head. Pell has been a conservative jerk for decades - none of this is new. He got away with everything because he was so powerful and upper crust, went to the Jesuit's Campion Hall in Oxford, hung out in Rome at his Domus Australia, and of course then was picked up by the pope.

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  6. Thanks for the link. What's weird to me is that so few Catholics seem to care that our church is fill of pedophiles or that the Pope himself has done such a bad job on the sex abuse issue. How can people not be outraged? Is it that they don't understand how devastating child sex abuse can be to victims or is it that they just don't care? I was sexually abused as a child by my first stepfather and it makes me sick that the church gets away with what would bring down any secular establishment.

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  7. This is all really disheartening.

    Clearly, the Church is not doing a very good job attracting mentally healthy and stable men to the priesthood nowadays. The hierarchy is secretive. The church blames pedophilia on homosexuality, which is utterly ignorant. Priests are segregated by gender, and celibacy strikes me as a special charism, but an unnecessary requisite. The priestly "powers" could be awfully heady to someone who is egotistical or narcissistic. Temptations to treat the parish as a personal fiefdom are periodic problems; two priests in nearby parishes are up on embezzlement charges of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Some priests are just plain overworked and cannot carry all the responsibilities of the parish alone. Isolation and depression are a problem for many priests good priests who are overworked and dishearted by bad press.

    Perhaps we need to look at the vocational discernment process. Is the Church so desperate that it's taking anybody willing to make a vow of celibacy?

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  8. Pedophilia is a paraphilia that occurs statistically in all groups. But the elevation of the priests to above human status and the inability of the hierarchy to publicly admit these crimes makes for a perfect pedophilia force multiplier. Then comes the "it was terrible but we fixed it" BS. If something eventually drives me from the RC Church, it'll be this thing. And it casts its shadow on Francis' papacy, as well, given the institutional SOS responses. Not enough is being done. The victims are still being victimized. I was never a victim but it hurts like hell to see this.

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    1. I don't think we've fixed it, but I believe we've made a lot of progress from where we were. For one thing, people are a lot more aware and more likely to notice red flags. For another, most dioceses now require safe environments training, and have policies in place such as, no adult should work alone with youths or children. Doesn't change the past, but hopefully will cut way down on future incidents.

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  9. I think the problem with the Catholic church, which apparently has something like 7 times more sex abuse than other Christian denominations, is that it only allows celibate men o be priests.

    I don't mean that celibacy causes pedophilia. What I mean is that any institution that advertises a job in which life-long celibacy will be enforced is bound to get a higher than average percentage of emotionally and sexually disturbed applicants.

    If the church would allow married men and women to be priests this wouldn't be the problem it is. But the pope won't change this. Instead he creates a powerless commission that can do nothing and which has already deconstructed after just a couple of years. He and the other top guys in the church would rather perpetuate their power than help children. Jesus would weep.

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  10. Why is it "bound to"? Is it because of the celibacy? Or because celibacy has become the primary litmus test for ordination?

    I honestly don't know because I know nothing about vocational discernment. But if the emphasis is on sexual continence rather than helping lead people to Jesus, something is very wrong.

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  11. Why bound to? Because the average person chooses a job where the emphasis is on what they would be doing, not on the fact that they could never have sex, never have a girlfriend/boyfriend, never marry, never have children.

    People do a lot of demanding jobs, but someone can be a missionary, a spy, a fireman, a Navy SEAL, a doctor with out borders, an astronaut, a Christian minister/priest, etc., and still no one tells them they can't have sex or a relationship or marry or have kids. Jesus didn't even expect the first disciples to do that.

    I think people who believe sex is bad or they themselves are bad or that close relationships are scary or unnecessary would be the types drawn to a job that so controlled one's personal life.

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  12. One of the most interesting theories of priestly sexual abuse is proposed by John Cornwell in The Dark Box. He blames it on Pius X and his reforms.

    Pius X advocated frequent communion, and lowered the age of first communion from early adolescence to the age of reason. What that also did was lower the age of confession, and make it much more frequent.

    Prior to Pius X people made their Easter duty, which meant confession and communion during Lent/Easter. Some also went at Christmas. So priests did not hear many confessions, and they would have heard few confessions from young unmarried men, e.g. once or twice a year between adolescence and marriage.

    Everything changed with Pius X. Now priests were hearing the regular confessions not only of adolescent males but also pre-adolescent males. So a lot of opportunity become present for priests to become interested in these guys sexual lives.

    Pius X also reformed the Catholic seminary system to insist on a strict cloister like seclusion of priests from laity during their training which often began during high school. So after having little opportunity to discuss or process their own sexuality during their training except during their own confessions, they are then given the opportunity to vicariously process their sexuality through the confessional.

    Cornwell really doesn't have much more than anecdotal evidence to back up his theory; he also wrote a very critical book on Pius XII (Hilter's Pope) which has likely led many people to dismiss this book.

    The theory is intriguing because the confessional does allow priests the opportunity to develop skills in breaking down the barriers to sexual behavior with young men including pre-adolescents, and may help to explain why these populations are present in greater numbers than we might expect.



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    1. Note that Cornwell theory is different from the theory that it is all about homosexuality, or that it is all about celibacy.

      If it is true we could still have problems of sexual abuse even if we had a married clergy, or even gay marriage as long as we have private confession as a means for priests to acquire interests in the sexual lives of other people.

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    2. Interesting idea. But I think what it would mean is that every priest (every man?) is a latent sexual abuser just waiting for the right circumstances (exciting confessions) to bring that out in him. Eeeek ;)

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    3. The American Psychological Association of which I am a member had a long fight to end sexual relationships between clients and therapists, faculty members and students.

      When I was in graduate school in the late sixties there were clinical faculty members who had sexual relationships with women graduate students under the premise that it was a healthy way for these women to understand their own sexuality as a part of a therapeutic relationship and thereby become better therapists!!!

      It took several research studies and much effort by women (and supportive males)to establish in our code of ethics that sexual relationships with students, clients, etc. were grounds for disciplinary action by the APA.

      While many higher education institutions have prohibited sexual relationships with students, some have not, and some have peculiar rules, e.g. you have to inform your department chairperson!

      I read an article once that this issue was particularly difficult for musicians, where there is a lot of opportunity for intimacy in sound proof rehearsal chambers, and a tradition of strong bonds between mentors and students.

      Bottom line if there is a great deal of intimacy, there is a chance of a sexual relationship developing.

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    4. I would add to my last sentence that when that intimacy involves a great difference in power and status, it is questionable how consensual that relationship can be, as Trump says when you are a star....

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    5. Ummm, I have a bit of a problem with Cornwell and believe him to be mistaken in piling the blame at the feet of Pius X (who caused the church some problems in his own right, but not because he lowered the age of reception of the sacraments of Eucharist and Reconciliation.)I believe the problem goes back to Trent and before, maybe even as far back as Augustine. But I think Jack is right about intimacy increasing the chance of a sexual relationship developing. That actually is a good argument for Confession behind the anonymity of a screen. Which I don't do myself, I nearly always go face to face.

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    6. And while we're talking of people with pedophilic tendencies having access to children, here is a peeve of mine:There is a notion, beloved of certain conservative Catholics, that being an altar server is a privilege which should be reserved to boys, because it is a kind of "farm team" for the priesthood, and this is how boys develop a relationship with priests. Friendship and mentorship are of course not bad things in themselves. But there is a reason why "safe environments" are now prioritized. We have made progress, even though the potential for abuse in some ways still exists.

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    7. The deeper problem is the notion that priests have to recruit young men for the priesthood.

      I think we need leadership programs in our parishes, and schools that show young people the whole range of leadership opportunities for Catholics (church, schools, health, social institutions, voluntary organizations, professions, businesses, community organizations. Give them opportunities to meet Catholics in these various organizations, foster trips, visits, mini-internships, etc.

      I would do this in a social and spiritual context in which young people can process internally and with one another their calls to leadership. My prediction is that if this was done, the young people themselves would discern in one other those who were the best vocations to clerical and religious life.

      I think the current practices of "inner calling" and "recruitment" are loaded with self deception upon the parts of recruits and recruiters. I think the people are the best discerners of vocations.

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    8. Jack, I think you are right that people are the best discerners of vocations. Sometimes the subject of vocations will come up in homilies. As a parent my teeth are particularly set on edge by the admonition that we should "foster" vocations. I have this mental picture of people whispering subliminal messages to kids while they are asleep. We always said we would support our kids in whatever God called them to be. But that it wasn't up to us. Also offensive is the idea that if we just had a few more children, we wouldn't mind giving one of them to God. Again, not our decision. No matter how many children one has, none of them are "spares".

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  13. I don't think the idea is that sex is bad, ergo priests must be "pure." And I don't think the priesthood is a "job" one chooses in the conventional sense.

    That said,as a convert, I will never really understand the Roman preoccupation with celibacy. I knew Anglican priests who were celibate by choice. "Choice" being the operative word.

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    1. In my opinion it has to do with some rather convoluted imagery of the church being the bride of Christ, and by extension, the priest being "married" to the church.

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    2. I think the reason the church keeps celibacy is 2 fold. They don't want to spend the money for priests with families to have a living wage, and the church finds it easier to control priests by making sure they have no other loyalties or ties to the real world (wife, children).

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    3. Unless they are pastors of megachurches in affluent areas, protestant ministers don't make great incomes, either. I suppose it is similar to a teacher's salary. Most pastors' wives I have known had an outside job. So though I think we will see more married priests in the near future (not very well kept secret, we already have them) I don't see it being a panacea. It is a sacrifice for the families.

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    4. Neither married priests nor women priests will change the present situation very much. We will still have the situation of one or two or three persons being paid to lead the community.

      A more radical solution, going back to the early church, would be having a group of voluntary clergy, presbyters and deacons, leading the community.

      Lifelong continuing theological and spiritual formation would be available to all. When people had settled down with vocational choices, e.g. marriage, children, and jobs, they could begin to take up more permanent forms of ministry in the congregation, and then be ordained as deacons. They would then be given more opportunities to preach, teach and counsel, and then be ordained as presbyters (which originally meant seniors). Much of the stability of the congregation would be provided by the presbyters (i.e. priests) particularly as they retired from their day jobs, and tasks of raising children.

      We could become a truly poor church for the poor since we would not be paying anybody except for the bishops. We could continue the Eastern custom of choosing these from among monks and single people, including those who had lost their spouses.

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    5. I agree. I'd be happy if we became like the Quakers, with no priests, no pope, and humbler finances. But that isn't going to happen.

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  14. It's not just that disturbed people might be attracted to the idea of obligatory celibacy, but then there's the reality of lived priestly life ... did you guys see 'Spotlight'? Richard Sipe (a former Benedictine) is referenced in the film saying that at any given time, about 50% of priests are sexually active with other adults. That means that many priests have relationships that must be furtive and non-public, that they must often live a lie (at least with their parishioners if not their fellow priests). This leads to a kind of us v them mentality and a loyalty to the institution and other priests instead of to the people of God.

    Australian Bishop Geoffrey Robinson wrote about how celibacy feeds secrecy and the covering up of sex abuse .... For Christ's sake: Confronting the culture of abuse within the Catholic Church

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  15. How are these figures arrived at?

    Not doubting that the number could be 50 percent--I think at least half the clergy in "The Canterbury Tales" were fooling around, and most of the rest had some worldly self-indulgence, so and religious acting badly isn't new--but I sometimes think that it must be awfully hard to get accurate numbers based on self-reporting or what others know or think they know about a priest's private life.

    Plus I think researchers might tend to skew numbers in favor of how they think about celibacy.

    But I have veered into conflating child molestation, a crime, with sexual behavior among priests with consenting adults, which is not a crime.

    Pedophilia deserves redress in the secular courts to protect children. Bishops and others who protect those priests should be considered accessories. Other, non-criminal sexual behavior should be handled by Church authorities.

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  16. How are these figures arrived at?

    Not doubting that the number could be 50 percent--I think at least half the clergy in "The Canterbury Tales" were fooling around, and most of the rest had some worldly self-indulgence, so and religious acting badly isn't new--but I sometimes think that it must be awfully hard to get accurate numbers based on self-reporting or what others know or think they know about a priest's private life.

    Plus I think researchers might tend to skew numbers in favor of how they think about celibacy.

    But I have veered into conflating child molestation, a crime, with sexual behavior among priests with consenting adults, which is not a crime.

    Pedophilia deserves redress in the secular courts to protect children. Bishops and others who protect those priests should be considered accessories. Other, non-criminal sexual behavior should be handled by Church authorities.

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  17. Richard Sipe, who conducted the study about priests and celibacy, was a Benedictine monk and priest for 18 years and worked with priests in the area pf mental health so he has both personal and professional experience with the subject. He's written books and has a website.

    Also the news is full of articles on this. Here's a recent one from The Telegraph ... 500 Irish priests 'having regular sex with women'.

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    1. The article also estimates that about 10 percent of Irish priests are having affairs.

      Again, important not to conflate criminal sexual conduct like pedophilia with consensual sex, which may be immoral, but not criminal.

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    2. Jean, yes, I agree. Just saying that celibacy doesn't seem to work as advertised, and that I think celibacy is a big part of why sexual abuse is so prevalent among Catholic priests.

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  18. America reports that Francis has replaced Muller with Ladara, a Jesuit

    While Pope Francis has signaled openness to an investigation into the role of women deacons in church history, establishing a commission (headed by Archbishop Ladaria) to study the issue, Cardinal Müller was firm in his opposition to the idea. “No. Impossible. It will not come.”

    I think by putting a quiet bureaucrat into this important position, Francis is giving notice to all the other princes of the Church that if they want to be media stars they may soon find they don't have a day job.

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  19. I don't like Muller, but I don't think him being gone is going to make much difference. Maybe the Pope let him go because he was one of the main opponents to the idea that divorced/married people could get communion. But until Francis has the courage to actually make an official change on this, it still won't make much difference.

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  20. Rorate Caeli, the traditionalist publication that first reported in English that Muller was not renewed, now has a translation of an interview which Muller just gave.

    Muller said that Francis told him that from now on that he did not intend to renew terms, and that Muller was the first person to whom this general policy was being applied.

    So I guess Francis is giving everybody in the Curia notice that their time will be up within the next five years. Actually when Jesuits complete their time as provincial or other office they are sent wherever they are needed which many times is not a promotion.

    Times may be changing in the Curia!

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    1. Just think a lot of these guys have been waiting until Francis is no longer Pope, and now he could be there after they are gone! Just has to live another five years which is well within his life expectancy.

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  21. Was just wondering if anyone has read what the charge against Pell actually is. I know he is accused of sexual assault. Was it abuse of minors, or assault of an adult man or woman?

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  23. "Cardinal George Pell, Australia's highest ranking Catholic will face at least three serious sex assault charges, including at least one count of rape." ... Georgle Pell charged: Police charge most senior Australian Catholic sex assault

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  24. Unless Pell is able to get a quick dismissal of the charges, he is unlikely to return to his position in Rome.

    The Vatican notice that affairs in his department would be conducted by his assistants "until over provisions are made" probably means that an interim substitute will be appointed once it is clear that Pell is going to have to stand trial. Perhaps he will even resign at that time.

    The "leave of absence' was probably just a way for him and the Vatican to save face, since Francis obviously knew that Muller was going to be replaced, too. Two firings in a row would really have upset the conservatives.

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  25. I've seen articles on what a big change this is to replace Muller. But really, what does the DF even really do anymore? Silence theologians who aren't Catholic enough?

    This is our church now, where "change" is only in tone and the real issues that need decisive action and that actually affect people's lives ... women and married men in the priesthood, acceptance of marriage for LGBT people, acceptance of divorce/remarriage, acceptance of contraception .... are not tackled. The church seems dead already without most of us noticing that.

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  26. I agree that ideologically this is not much of a change; the new guy seems like a carbon copy of Muller, both chosen by B16. There are plenty of other candidates Francis could have chosen for real change, but he didn't.

    The new guy is not likely to be very outspoken against Francis, and he will only be an archbishop unless Francis makes him a cardinal next year.

    The dismissal might actually embolden Muller to join in with Burke and the other retirees against Francis. What has he to lose?

    However it does seem to signal that Francis is not going to put up with "princes" in the Roman Curia; he has been giving them "hell" each Christmas, and this is an indication that is serious.

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  27. Kind and reliable Jesuit named to Vatican's top doctrinal post This is an old article by John Allen when he was at NCR. It gives a lot of background to the new CDF person, including a lot of anonymous quotes from colleagues.

    Evidently he was a very popular and well liked lecturer at the Gregorian. Sounds like the humble, very hard working, kind guy that Francis would like.

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  28. Just learned another interesting fact about the new CDF head; he is 73 years old, which means he must submit his resignation in 2 years. Of course Francis could keep him on for a full 5 year term or not.

    It also means that Francis may not make him a cardinal. This is really a demotion of the CDF from its position as the supreme congregation. Maybe that is what Francis wants; it could become the congregation whose principle job is reviewing sex abuse cases.

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  29. The CDF refused to set up a procedure for judging bishops, refused to acknowledge complaints of sex abuse victims, and were cited as a reason for Collins when she left the commission.

    Francis not only fired Muller, he had already fired three priests. Seems like most CEOs would react that way to insubordination from any department. That is far worse than disagreements about doctrine. I suspect Francis doesn't care much about those.

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