Catholic sexual abuse scandal in Victoria

The sexual abuse scandal in Melbourne archdiocese is an important chapter in the series of Catholic sex abuse cases in many regional jurisdictions.

Accusations against Archbishop Pell

In June 2002, Pell was accused of having sexually abused a 12-year-old boy at a Roman Catholic youth camp in 1961. At this time Pell was a seminarian. Pell "stood aside", but did not resign, as archbishop as soon as the allegations were made public, some weeks after the Church became aware of them. Pell vehemently denied all the accusations. The complainant agreed to pursue his allegations through the church's own process for dealing with allegations of sexual misconduct, The National Committee for Professional Standards (NCPS).

The Hon AJ Southwell, QC, a retired judge and an Anglican, was appointed a commissioner by the NCPS to conduct an inquiry into the allegations. The commissioner stated that it was "an inquiry, not an adversarial process in which the complainant bears the onus of proof. However, my task, as set out in the Terms of Reference, is to decide 'whether or not the complaint has been established'". Since the allegations "amounted to the crime of indecent assault, which, at that time [1961-62] was punishable by imprisonment for a term of up to 10 years Crimes Act 1958, s.68 et al.", the level of proof must be high.

The complainant claimed to have first made the allegations to his wife abround 1975. Southwell says: "As to motive, it should be noted that extensive enquiries made on behalf of the respondent [Pell] have unearthed no evidence of any other matter or incident which might have aroused spite or malice on the part of the complainant towards either the respondent or the Church. On the other hand, the respondent has had a strong motive to push memory (if there ever was memory) of these fleeting incidents by a 19 year old into the recesses of the mind, from which there could be no recall." [Report p.9] Southwell found no evidence that the complaint was made through vindictiveness or desire for compensation.

Southwell concluded: "I accept as correct the submissions of Mr Tovey [for the complainant] that the complainant, when giving evidence of molesting, gave the impression that he was speaking honestly from an actual recollection. However, the respondent, also, gave me the impression that he was speaking the truth. ... In the end, and notwithstanding that impression of the complainant, bearing in mind the forensic difficulties of the defence occasioned by the very long delay, some valid criticism of the complainant's credibility, the lack of corroborative evidence and the sworn denial of the respondent, I find I am not 'satisfied that the complaint has been established', to quote the words of the principal term of reference." [Report p.12]

Doubts about the handling of the accusation arose following the publication by the Australian Herald Sun on 6 October 2002 of details about the accuser, whose anonymity had been preserved in previous media coverage. As relayed by the Zenit news service, "Pell's alleged victim was, it turned out, a career criminal. He had been convicted of drug dealing and involved in illegal gambling, tax evasion and organized crime in a labor union. A commission probing the corrupt union even devoted a whole chapter of its report to this man's activities. As the inquiry report noted: 'The complainant has been before the court on many occasions, resulting in 39 convictions from about 20 court appearances.'"

As a consequence of the inquiry other allegations were publicly made that Pell, along with other church leaders, had sought to cover up past incidents of child sexual abuse and sexual exploitation by clergy. Critics noted that Pell had accompanied Father Gerald Ridsdale, convicted of sexual offences against a number of children, to court at the beginning of Ridsdale's trial in 1993. Pell, however, didn't give evidence in support of Ridsdale or seek to protect him at the trial. Ridsdale had been a priest in the Ballarat diocese in the early 1970s, on one occasion living in the same clergy house as Pell and several other priests. Pell has stated in more recent years that he felt accompanying Ridsdale was a mistake because of the potential for others to feel that his sympathies were with Ridsdale rather than his victims.

Individual cases

Michael Charles Glennon - sentenced to at least 15 years in jail for sexually abusing four Aboriginal boys between 1984 and 1991

Wilfred James Baker - sentenced to four years in prison (parole after 2 years) for 16 counts of indecent assault and one of gross indecency, involving eight boys, aged 10 to 13, over a 20-year period between 1960 and 1979.

David Daniel - sentenced to six years jail, with parole after 4.5 years, for molesting four boys, a girl and an adult male.

Rex Elmer - abuser sentenced in 1998 to five years jail (with parole after 3 years 4 months) for molesting 12 boys at St Vincent's orphanage in South Melbourne.

Terence Goddall affair

On 7 July 2008, the ABC Lateline television program aired an interview with a Sydney man, Anthony Jones who, in 1982 at the age of 21, was twice indecently assaulted by Terence Goodall, a Roman Catholic priest. In 2003, Pell wrote to Jones to say that his complaint against Fr Goodall could not be substantiated as no other victims had come forward. But Lateline revealed that Pell had, on the same day, written to a second victim acknowledging abuse by Fr Goodall. Lateline also revealed that, three weeks earlier, Pell had received a report advising him that both men's complaints against Goodall should be upheld, but Pell's letter to Jones contradicted that advice.

It has subsequently come to light that Pell dismissed Jones' claims of being sexually abused by Goodall on the basis of Goodall's claim that the two had engaged in sex as two consenting adults. However a tape recording of Goodall phoning Jones to apologise for his act of abuse has caused Pell to reconsider this opinion. On the basis of this tape, Pell is considering reopening the case.

Cardinal Pell stated that this case was not usual because the criminal courts took it up after Jones was not satisfied with church findings, but he said the court too did not charge Goodall with rape. "Goodall was convicted in court under the laws in vogue in 1982 which are now changed", Pell stated. "There was never any allegation by prosecutors of rape. Goodall was sentenced until the rising of the court and the judge remarked publicly that his conviction would be unlikely under today's law."

Monica Hingston affair

In January 2004 his cousin, Monica Hingston, a former nun who had lived in a lesbian relationship for 19 years published an open letter in the press. Hingston said that she had twice sent the letter to Pell privately but had received no reply. She had written the letter after the Vatican reaffirmed Catholic teaching that homosexual acts were "serious depravity" [1]. She challenged Pell to "look her in the eye" and call her "corrupt, debased, vicious, vile, wicked, degenerate" - words she says are synonyms for depraved. "To read that the Vatican has declared us to be 'seriously depraved persons' has appalled and angered me", she wrote.

In response Pell issued a statement saying: "The Church's views are well known and will not change. I support them. In these situations the first 11 verses of Chapter 8 of St John's Gospel give food for thought. I wish Monica well and acknowledge the contribution she has made. I continue to regret the path she has chosen." The passage referred to by Pell was the account of the woman taken in adultery, where Jesus said "let him who is without sin cast the first stone", but also tells the woman, "go and sin no more".

Hingston said she was "not surprised" at Pell's response, because he "had to follow the Vatican line", but it saddened her. "I wanted him to make some statement about who I am as a person to him", she said. "It's very disappointing that I got no response other than scripture." She said that she found the official Catholic teaching "insulting and degrading".