Catholic Church Scandal Continues to Explode in A

With a royal commission soon to be investigating the Catholic Church handling of sex abuse by clergy, the condemnation of the Church hierarchy continues unabated.  One victim who is now an attorney says the Church needs to scrape its supposed program for handling abuse complaints and the family of one victim is speaking out about what they describe as the "sociopathic" behavior of Cardinal George Pell (shown above), the highest ranking Catholic in Australia.  Not only did Pell show no empathy for victims but seemed most concerned about protecting the Church's reputation.  As if, at this point the Church has much of a reputation to protect.  Sadly, what is unfolding in Australia is the same disingenuous pattern seen time and time again around the globe.  I remained convinced that only by prosecuting bishops and cardinals and jailing them will the Church ever begin to clean house in the cesspool like hierarchy.   First highlights from The Australian on the Church's deeply flawed policies:

SCRAP it. That's what Sydney lawyer and sex-abuse survivor John Ellis says the Catholic Church should do with its Towards Healing policy for dealing with sex-abuse victims. 

Mr Ellis, who has first-hand experience of Towards Healing, said the main problem with it and the parallel Melbourne Response was an inherent conflict of interest: cases are managed by church-appointed personnel, although complainants are encouraged to go to police.

He said even if the conflict of interest victims identify in Towards Healing could be worked around, the management of people seeking redress is inconsistent, and at its worst is neither transparent nor accountable.

Professor of Intercultural Studies at RMIT University Des Cahill said Towards Healing and the Melbourne Response were primarily designed to protect the church's reputation and financial assets.  "They were being pressured by the Vatican to apply canon law to the issues rather than Australian criminal law, and Catholic canon law protects the rights of the priests but has nothing to say about the children and their rights," Professor Cahill said.

As for Cardinal Pell's lack of remorse and ever basic empathy, the Sydney Morning Herald has details.  Here are highlights:

CARDINAL George Pell showed a ''sociopathic lack of empathy, typifying the attitude and response of the Catholic hierarchy'' to parents whose young daughters were repeatedly raped by a priest, the Victorian inquiry into how the churches handled child sex abuse has been told.

Anthony Foster told on Friday how they met the cardinal - now Archbishop of Sydney - when he was Melbourne archbishop, in a furniture storage room at a Melbourne presbytery. They were squeezed onto a narrow wooden bench, while he sat in a ''grandiose'' padded leather chair.  He expressed no emotion when shown a picture of the Fosters' daughter Emma harming herself - she later killed herself - and said expressionlessly: ''Hmmm, she's changed, hasn't she?''

''What sort of of people did he mix with, what sort of life did he lead, that he thought this comment was appropriate?'' Mr Foster asked.  From the start, he was confrontational and told them: ''If you don't like what we are doing, take us to court,'' Mr Foster said.

Coincidentally, the inquiry posted on its website on Friday a submission by another victim of the priest, Kevin O'Donnell, who raped the Fosters' daughters. This victim (name withheld) also spoke of Cardinal Pell, saying that meeting him and other church staff was ''unpleasant and distressing'' and describing her experience of the church as ''harsh, cold and uncaring'' from her childhood to her time in a convent to reporting O'Donnell to the police.

Another victim, Ian Lawther, whose son was a victim, said that every time Cardinal Pell spoke publicly to defend the Catholic Church, he caused further pain for victims suffering post-traumatic stress disorder. ''[He is] only doing a lot of damage to sufferers.''

He said he had received ''zero'' signs of contrition from the church. ''There needs to be complete accountability. We don't need an organisation that runs and hides behind canon law. There should be one law for all the people in this country.''

These men are moral monsters and when they presume to dictate to others - e.g., on gay marriage - they deserve to be shouted down and denied a platform by the media.  Most of them should be behind bars.