Pell makes first public move After recent lobbying jaunts the Bishop from Hell has made his first major public move regarding the growing sex abuse scandal. Pell is seen as a potential saviour due to his pitch that he has implemented the almost perfect solution with his implementation of what is known as
"The Melbourne Process".
To survivors around the world the state ofVictoria is seen as the
'pedophile triangle' with Melbourne being Hell Central as this is the hub in which Pell has been able to
operate in
virtual silence one of the most
harmful and damaging 'healing' processes put together anywhere by the church. One cannot help notice the similarities to our own Redress Board and the ensuing fall out from that fiasco.
The Pell model which is shoring up connections within the Vatican is a move seen only with mounting fear and mounting horror by the survivors of Ireland, Germany and many other countries across Europe; at this move from the man known amongst them as the bishop from downunder - the
Bishop from Hell.
Survivors have said there was the beginning of some threads of hope for the children in the
Hans Kung understanding of the problem. Hans Kung wrote toall Catholic bishops, published in the Irish Times on April 16, in which he said the Church
now finds itself in the worst credibility crisis since the Reformation, he
criticised the
Vatican and specifically criticized
Pope Benedict XVI, for their alleged roles. Survivors say there are points of value but they bemoaned the fact that there was
no central forum or negotiating table where these ideas could be explored further.
In response survivors from Australia, Ireland and the US have put forward a public request for funds to assist them in setting up information gathering processes and a centralized web location for internationally connecting more survivors.
Whilst the
Pell process has one of the highest rate of
survivor suicide known to date according to
survivors and
those who work with the Melbourne process. Those who have navigated their way through the Pell process report on it in the most unfavorable way and say that their is no
consideration for their human rights or their dignity under the current range of
corrupted systems in open operation in Melbourne and they point to what they say is the
farce of "The Independent Commissioner into Sexual Abuse" run by QC Peter O'Callaghan. (This is the same individual who warned priests they were under investigation)!! Survivors claim that the commissioner displays
no indication of independence nor any indication that he intends to do so, they further claim that he acts in
unethical ways and
refuses to provide answers to their questions. There are numerous claims in regards the qualifications and professionalism of psychology services and in regards the experience and abilities of people with Carelink which acts as a service provider for the Melbourne process.
Survivors claim it is run entirely for the benefit of the church and in no way represents what survivors and those who have been involved in the process are saying. Survivors have lobbied politicians for an
independent investigation to no avail.
The Melbourne region has been the home of some of the most prolific priestly sexual abusers with a number of accused priests still operating within the Melbourne archdiocese. Many independent complaints have been made to the commission and to the archdiocese with a lengthy submission made last year by a survivors collective which was given the
brush off by the church with few of the participants even knowing what the churchs response to it had been.
Just out of Melbourne in the beautiful
Yarra Valley lies the town of
Healesville with a parish overseen by the bishop of Melbourne. The
same bishop who overseas the Melbourne process originally set up by
George Pell. The areas was ravaged by recent bushfires and is now being
ravaged by the crimes and the coverup in the catholic church.
Just like the global spot-fires of the global clergy abuse crisis the town of Healesville is not unique in this way. It is simply one of many battles being fought on the ground. With Australia seen as a tight-lipped and complicit country due to the Australian Prime Minister (Kevin Rudd) when he stated on the Popes visit to Australia that he saw the
issue of the
sexualabuse of children by Catholic clergy as a Catholic issue and victims say that while Australia holds with that corrupted ideal the
rights of victims in Australia and the extent of the crimes there will continue to be
strongly repressed through the
undue influence of the church's
teachings and its
bishops, priests and
Catholics in political and community arenas.
We have to highlight the treatment of parishioners who have
spoken out about their own personal abuse at the
hands of clergy and of abuses of their own and others
children. The treatment meted out to one young mother is something that no
human rights observer could possibly miss yet the children of Healesville will have to face the reality today of being a part of the catholic church. They must understand that
their priest has a history of cover up just as the previous priest did.You can read Angies story in her own words online at
Angies storyWith the growing numbers of sexual abuse victims being identified and disclosing across the world and with governments failing one after the other to adequately address the issue due to the deep involvement of religion; one survivor said today 'We are unable to find any NGO or governmental service which is documenting these crimes let alone addressing them'!!!!