The trial of Cardinal George Pell for “historic” sexual abuse claims is underway in Australia, but the state of Australian justice also has the world’s attention.
“Trial by Media.” The ominous term has already been a part of the public record in regard to Australia’s Cardinal George Pell. I used the term myself in a post two years ago entitled, “Peter Saunders and Cardinal Pell: A Trial by Media.”
The concern for the poisoning of justice through leaks to a toxic and predatory news media is nothing new, but “Trial by Media” hangs like the burial shroud of justice itself over the trial of Cardinal Pell on 40-year-old claims of sexual abuse.
Lest anyone doubt the power of the media to both generate such claims and shape justice and due process in a case like this, consider a recent issue of The Week, a popular weekly news magazine. The Week presents itself as “The Best of the U.S. and International Media.” It selects excerpts from online media and newspapers throughout the world and presents them as the best written accounts of the week’s top stories.
In its July 21, 2017 issue, The Week chose as the best of the media from Australia a column by Barney Zwartz in The Age entitled, “The Nation’s Top Catholic in the Dock.” It should raise the alarm for anyone concerned for the media’s role in all this, and the slant it presents. Here is an excerpt:
“After decades of rumors, Australia’s highest-ranking Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, is finally facing trial for child sexual abuse. At this point, Australians are numb to the horror, having endured years of parliamentary reports that produced damning evidence against so many priests…”
We can only hope that Australians are not so “numb” that they don’t see through this language. It is an open invitation to a lynch mob. The phrase, “after decades of rumors” should alarm everyone from the start. For any objective observer of this story, the only “damning evidence” is the accusations themselves and the fact that there has been a sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church in Australia.
This is the state of the evidence thus far presented against Cardinal Pell as this “Trial by Media” gets underway. To incite a community to forego due process in favor of emotion is the very foundation of all witch hunts. An “availability bias” has been built that places Catholic priests in a suspect class. I described its momentum in “How SNAP Brought McCarthyism to American Catholics.”
Conditioned by a predatory media, Australians are now invited to ignore the abyss that is empty of evidence, and weigh the claims against Cardinal Pell with nothing of substance except “decades of rumors” that left Australians “numb to the horror.” The same media-fueled moral panic swept America and spread like a virus.
Now some of those who used it for profit are themselves before the bar of justice – (See “David Clohessy Resigns SNAP in Alleged Kickback Scheme”). But Mr. Zwartz and The Week present other “evidence” as well, and it is a central but unspoken feature in the indictment of Cardinal Pell:
“A combative participant in Australia’s culture wars,” the ultraconservative Pell had long been a divisive figure in Australia because of his `relentless, overbearing’ style. He was ruthless in punishing priests who deviated from doctrine by advocating changes to Mass or supporting ordination of women.”
Actual evidence of any offense from forty years ago does not exist in the Pell case, but for too many about the business of news and fake news, it need not exist. His Eminence is guilty of “other things”: fidelity to Catholic teaching, a conservative mindset, and an insistence that priests support orthodoxy. This is enough for the Trial by Media to rush to judgment.
Whether it is enough for the people of Australia remains to be seen. I think not. Even after my own experience of justice, I remain open to the hope that the better nature of thoughtful people will prevail. I know many Australians, and they are neither unjust nor “numb” as some in the news media suggests.
WHERE ARE YOUR ACCUSERS? (John 8:10)
Who are the current accusers in the trial of Cardinal Pell? It strikes me as bizarre that so many in the news media have focused this story only on the wider scandal and Cardinal Pell’s conservative mindset without much inquiry into the rest of the equation. Most in the media have said nothing about Pell’s accusers except to freely identify them as “victims,” and to insinuate that unnamed others contemplate coming forward.
There’s just enough smoke to create the impression of a raging fire Down Under. On June 30, The Media Report, an ever vigilant source of the rest of the sobering story, posted “Now This: The Media’s Cardinal Pell Disinformation Campaign.”
David F. Pierre, Jr. at The Media Report focused on a sobering fact that most other reports have omitted or downplayed. These accusations are from forty years ago. Much of the news media will not identify the accusers because of politically correct policies to withhold the identities of sexual abuse victims, but these accusers are not children; they are men in their fifties.
They have criminal records of their own. Although that in itself does not discredit their claims, it should be sufficient enough for a closer look. The Media Report pointed out (with supportive links) that one of the accusers, Lyndon Monument, is an “admitted drug addict” who served a term in prison for criminal assault stemming from a drug debt. He also previously accused a childhood teacher of sexual abuse.
The other accuser, Damian Dignan, “has a criminal history for assault and drunk driving.” He has a history of alcohol abuse, and also previously accused a childhood teacher of assault. Both men are raising their claims against Cardinal Pell for the first time, forty years later, and only when the climate would lend itself to less scrutiny over financial settlements.
Experience tells me that both the justice system and the news media should be especially cautious in forming judgments in such a case. In 2005, during the height of the priesthood scandal in America, I wrote an article for Catalyst entitled “Sex Abuse and Signs of Fraud.”
The article details multiple cases of men with criminal records who concocted schemes to obtain financial settlements through fraudulent claims about Catholic priests. They took advantage of the very climate now smoldering behind the Pell case.
Then there was the story of Shamont Lyle Sapp that I exposed in “Catholic Priests and the Perversions of Predators.” Before he was investigated and exposed by a vigilant U.S. Attorney, Mr. Sapp, from his prison cell, accused several priests in multiple states using details and “evidence” gathered from Internet accounts of other accusations against priests. It was only a fluke that Sapp was investigated and caught in the scam.
WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
The Media Report also reminded us that back in 2002, Cardinal Pell was previously accused by a “career criminal” who had been convicted of tax evasion, narcotics charges, illegal gambling operations, and organized crime with “an impressive 39 court convictions under his belt.” He accused Cardinal Pell of abusing him in 1962, but Pell was exonerated and cleared of the charge.
“Cardinal George Pell and Other Martyrs for a Nefarious Cause” raised the specter that claims like these 40-year-old charges are used by some as “weapons of mass destruction” in order to bolster other agendas. At the popular site, Whispers in the Loggia (“For the Cardinal Prefect, ‘My Day in Court’” June 29), Rocco Palmo raised the same “historical” abuse case from the 1960s in which Pell had been cleared, but he attributed its momentum, and its treatment in Rome, to other agendas:
“Two decades of revelations of abuse and cover-up have been treated as a political football among the Church’s ideological camps.”
There is no evidence or reason for treating the current forty-year-old “historical abuse” case as any different. The mere fact that charges were brought in such a case could have a lot more to do with Pell being a target for political factions that are happy to see him in the dock of justice knowing that, regardless of the outcome, Pell is permanently maligned and out of the way.
But among all the toxic press, there are many sounding the alarm that “Trial by Media” in Australia is itself facing trial. In National Review (“The Persecution of Cardinal George Pell,” June 29, 2017) author George Weigel described the campaign against Pell in Australia as…
“…a thoroughly poisonous public climate exacerbated by poorly sourced but widely disseminated allegations, no respect for elementary fairness, and a curious relationship between elements of the Australian media and the Victoria police…”
George Weigel cited comments from several Australians who have refused to become caught up in the climate of moral panic and nefarious agendas. These voices are worth hearing out. Attorney Robin Speed, President of the Australian Rule of Law Institute warned against prosecutors acting against Pell “in response to the baying of a section of the mob.”
Angela Shanahan in The Australian summarized the trajectory of the case:
“Conspiracy and rumor reign, logic and fact have gone out the window in the case of Cardinal Pell…. In all this sound and fury, the Cardinal has acted impeccably. He has said nothing except to state his innocence.”
Columnist Peter Craven, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald (June 9) concluded,
“One can only hope to God that in the present climate people will be capable of realizing this is a case being mounted for a witch trial.”
Voices of dissent against the blind orthodoxy of victimhood are a minority in Australia just as they are a minority in America. Some of these voices have been courageous in their defense, not only of Cardinal Pell, but of justice as an ideal that is now itself under indictment. Australian political commentator Amanda Vanstone, a former Ambassador to Italy and “no fan of organized religion,” wrote,
“George Pell’s trial by media has to stop. What we are seeing is no better than a lynch mob from the dark ages… The public arena is being used to trash a reputation and probably prevent a fair trial.”
Andrew Halphen, co-chairman of criminal law at the Law Institute of Victoria addressed the leaks to the media about Pell as a startling affront to the legal system. He expressed grave concern over whether Pell could now have a fair trial. He added that he could not think of any other case in which a charge against a public figure “finds its way to the front page of a major news publication before a person is actually charged.”
After I posted “Cardinal George Pell and Other Martyrs for a Nefarious Cause,” a first-time reader in Ballarat, Australia sent a comment that I want to post here because it speaks volumes about the climate in which Cardinal Pell faces trial. It begins with a quote from the above post:
“‘This nonsense continues because of the clamor of a few and the silence of many.’ Ahh, the irony of your comment. I am a Ballarat resident. My childhood bore witness to the culture of pedophilia that thrived here. And as an adult, the impact of the sexual abuse that happened to so many in my community continues.
I am appalled by your lack of compassion for victims. Your want to dismiss the validity of these crimes because of the delay in victims coming forward and/or charges laid, and your implied belief that our Australian justice system is flawed.
Our community knows its truths. The Catholic Church cannot conceal this truth as it once did. Your comments are just “clamor.” Hurtful clamor. Pell and the rest of “your fellow sufferers” [quoted from Cardinal Avery Dulles on TSW’s “About” page] cannot demand the silence of so many impacted because it doesn’t fit your narrative. – (a resident of Ballarat, Australia)
The defense rests its case. My heart goes out to Australians who have suffered the unspeakable, but the above comment makes the case for me. If what other priests did to other victims is now sufficient “evidence” to indict and convict Cardinal Pell then why have a trial at all? If it is too late to salvage justice from vengeance, then just take the man into the Outback and shoot him.
Father Gordon J MacRae says
For those who cannot bring themselves to believe that accusations against priests from decades ago could be brought for money, I posted an article on the Linkedin Pulse publishing format entitled “A Weapon of Mass Destruction: Catholic Priests Falsely Accused.”
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/weapon-mass-destruction-catholic-priests-falsely-accused-macrae
It contains far more evidence than that presented in the media against Cardinal Pell. The good people of Australia need to do some soul searching on this. With blessings to all, Father Gordon MacRae
malcolm harris says
Sometimes it helps to use symbols to understand things. So imagine a big factory, in full production, with a tall chimney, belching out smoke. This represents the media belching out information. Often this smoke is so thick it reduces vision….. so people can’t see clearly. This is symbolic of emotive reactions to any information that creates sadness. Cardinal Pell has been the target of the media for many years, and any jury will have to be selected from the public, already influenced by this smoke. The actual accusations will be revealed as devoid of any supporting evidence, which should lead to a ‘not guilty’ verdict. But the prosecution will trot out accusers, well coached to deliver emotive stories, designed to trigger an emotive response in the jury, already prepared by media smoke. In addition there will be several accusers with similar stories, reflecting each other. So similar it will resemble a hall of mirrors.
Sadly… if the Cardinal is convicted…. it will be due to a ‘smoke and mirrors’ prosecution.
pat says
Barry Nixton, the reason why this country is so corrupt is because of the likes of YOU… It is worldly souls like YOU that have totally destroyed Christianity , totally destroyed justice and truth which was based on Christian principles. You should be praying your hardest for Australia because it has lost its salt. This witch hunt is pure evil which is a mere reflection of what our country has become. You carry on on this web site about influence, you really are pathetic the greatest influence of pure lies has been coming from the wicked ABC and the media Lies, Lies and more Lies.. Hard to believe there is still clowns that believe in the court system and authorities in this country which is a mirror reflection of NERO… It is not a wonder Australia is in a huge social and economical mess!
Ingrid Merchant says
Thank you
Father Gordon for an excellent article on what is happening “Down under”: the vicious campaign against Cardinal George Pell by Australia’s media, in particular if I may say so our government funded ABC.
Cardinal Pell is walking the Way of the Cross. It is scandalous, that there is so little regard for due process and the assumption of innocence until proven guilty. It horrifies me.
That there are legal experts and journalist that bring reason and the call for justice to be done is light in the darkness. May God bless them!
Thank you Father Gordon. I am grateful for your posts. May God bless you and keep you. May His Face shine upon you and bring you peace. Blessings to Pornchai Moontri
malcolm harris says
Re the comment from “a resident of Ballarat”. This individual said that his community would no longer be silenced? And implied blame to the Church for this silence? Well actually I myself was brought up in a provincial city, about the same size as Ballarat. My community was keen on competitive sport, and local gossip, and would imagine that Ballarat was likewise. There were no secrets, everything came out, but the worst I ever heard about a Catholic priest was that one guy was too friendly with an attractive widow. If there had been any suggestion of child molestation… then it would have spread like wildfire. So quite frankly I do not believe this accusation of a cover-up. The real intention is to create a false impression of rampant child abuse, in the parish were Cardinal Pell was a young priest…..thus implying that he did nothing to stop it. Basically more character assassination…… to keep the ball rolling.
Dorothy R. Stein says
Mr. Harris’ comment makes total sense to me. I, too, was troubled by the writer from Ballarat who expects us to believe that all of this happened in a close community 40 years ago but no one did anything about it. Where I grew up, if a priest had behaved this way everyone would have known and he would have been driven out of town. To expect that these ex-cons should today bring such charges and be handed a big check is just ridiculous. Thank you, Mr. Harris, for enlightening us.
Dee Susan says
When this mess first began decades ago in the USA, the fact that there were monetary settlements being made upset me because I knew that fact alone would be the cause of many false reports of abuse.
The unscrupulous among us do not have any hesitation in lining up for ‘free and easy money.’ In their minds it is not a big deal – they don’t think lying is so bad. It’s not like murder or anything. But their minds and consciences are not formed rightly, because it is bad. Lying breaks a commandment. It is a sin. Unfortunately too many people think of this claim of false ‘victimization’ as an opportunity – not a sin. What gets me is not that the sinners of the world continue to sin – they are actually to be pitied because one day they will fact God’s justice. What disturbs me is why did the church set itself and the priesthood up like this?
You remain in my prayers Father Gordon, along with all priests. May God protect and bless you and all your brothers in Christ.
Edward . Fullerton says
Fr Gordon , Remember you in my prayers.
Suzanne Formanek says
Dear Fr. MacRae: I have just sent off this post to Dr. Moynihan. (He kindly delivered the prayer requests to St. Thomas More’s cell.)
He wrote a lengthy article (Letter #48, 2017 Attack the Brother) a day after your posting. It was regarding allegations perpetrated in the media, which give the impression of credibility. In his post he was referring to Fr. George Ratzinger and the way in which the media crafted the story regarding the abuse of students during his tenure as director of the Regensburg Boys Choir. He took time and effort to dismantle the allegations but whether anyone is reading carefully enough to follow the story remains to be seen. I’m sorry that there is no way I know of to send you this article.
Is this coincidental or am I beginning to see the Church Militant preparing to take on the media? I’d like to think so, judging from these two articles appearing so close together and I surely hope so!
Suzanne Formanek
Joan Ripley says
Thank you for your heartfelt defense of Cardinal Pell, Father Gordon. It is a sickening situation. I pray that the Australian judge has at least some desire to see solid evidence of wrongdoing before rushing to judgement and conviction. St. Michael the Archangel, St. John Fisher, St. Thomas More and St. Joan of Arc please pray for Cardinal Pell and for the holy Catholic Church.
Tom says
Good article, Father Gordon. And we both know that no matter what the outcome, Cardinal Pell is “finished” and will never function publicly again. There is no un-ringing that bell! Sadly, he will have to exist outside the peripheries, although that red hat will give him a softer landing than most similarly accused priests.
Domingo says
Excellent essay, Fr G.
May Truth be known.
Asking for your priestly blessings on me and my family,
MaryJean Diemer says
I will continue to pray for all those unjustly accused and for their accusers (Barry Nixon, you fall in this category also as you want this case to be one-sided it seems.) How sad that so many want to stifle the real truth and parade the slander especially when it involves the Catholic Church. God bless you Fr. Gordon for bringing out the truth with so very little support for yourself. Sending love and prayers as always, Jeannie
Steve R. says
The one question that no one ever seems to consider is this: “Would I want it done to me?” Who among us could defend ourselves against allegations lacking evidence of some wrongdoing from 40 years ago, or 4 weeks ago, for that matter? Don’t the terms “false witness” and “lying” ever occur to those in the media, courts or the mob? What would they do if the brutal power of the government were suddenly turned against them, with nothing more than someone’s say-so? It occurs to me that our Lord was crucified under these same exact circumstances 2,000 years ago. Things haven’t changed much, have they? I pray that He gives us the grace to forgive, for they “know not what they do.” Pray for us, Father. I’ll pray for you. God bless you, Steve.
Maria Stella says
Amen, Steve.
I am so praying for the grace to be able to forgive as I see priests brought up on ‘crimes’ that took place 40+ years ago, with no way of ascertaining the truth. As you say this is practically the same circumstances 2000 years ago. I understand why the women wept (as per the 8th Station of the Cross)…. and many of us are weeping now. It’s so hard emotionally to see the persecution of good priests, ….while those (as per that of recent homosexual orgy in the Vatican) go relatively scott free.
All I can do is to pray fervently that Our Lady has these persecuted clergy under her mantle of protection. This is an important component of my daily rosary.
Fr. G, I think you know that many, many people are praying for you – daily. And also for Cardinal Pell, and for unknown persecuted priests. You are truly walking the Lord’s Via Dolorosa.
With lots of agape love. …
Father Gordon J. MacRae says
Steve, thank you for this thoughtful display of a just and rational mind and heart. Let us hope that it’s contagious! With blessings, Father Gordon MacRae.
Fr. Stuart MacDonald says
Fr. Gordon,
Thank you for this post. The fact that it evokes such visceral critique is a good sign: a) because the truth hurts for those living in fantasy and b) it means your story is getting out to a wider audience. The persecution is upon us. What is sad is that we, to some extent, have brought it upon ourselves. As your late patron was wont to say: “fidelity, Fidelity, FIDELITY.” God bless you, Fr. Gordon.
Fr. Stuart
Father Gordon J. MacRae says
Thank you Father Stuart. Those who live fidelity mirror it well. Now let us pray that our Church will live up to its call to be a mirror of justice and defend the innocent until proven guilty, and even then treat them with mercy. With fraternal blessings, Father Gordon.
Tammy K. says
How very sad this all makes me. I will continue to pray for you Fr. MacRae and now Cardinal Pell as well. Thank you Fr. for fighting the good fight. May God Bless you and richly reward you.
Helen says
ALMIGHTY GOD…..YOU ARE TRUTH ITSELF…..I OFFER YOU CARDINAL PELL, WHO IS GOING THRU THE FALSE ACCUSATIONS THAT FR. GORDON (IS) HAS EXPERIENCED. THESE MEN GAVE THEIR LIVES BACK TO YOU. PLEASE HELP THEM, IN JESUS THRU MARY. ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE WITH YOU. YOU ARE EVER-FAITHFUL AND WE COME IN FULL KNOWLEDGE OF YOU AS MERCY, ITSELF. PLEASE HEAR US.
Fr. Gordon..I promised to send a comment soon. You know the circumstances. God bless and thank Him FOR YOU.
Your forever fan,
Helen
Barry Nixon says
Your comments are inappropriate given the matter is before the Australian courts.
In the interest of Cardinal Pell getting a fair trial you should refrain from commenting until the end of the court process.
Father Gordon J MacRae says
Every now and then we receive a comment that is so utterly devoid of the reality of the situation that it makes me wonder whether the commenter has even read the post. What has been inappropriate is the Australia media storm in condemnation of Cardinal Pell. To attack as inappropriate those who call for an end of the trial by media is simply ridiculous. With blessings, Father Gordon
Treasa says
Barry Nixon. Do you mean our Cardinal Pell should be left out to be torn to shreds by mainstream media…pre judged, hung, drawn and quartered as in Tyburn days? Did you read anything (in Father’s account above) about the accusers of Cardinal Pell? Better you grab your Rosary and join me in praying to Our Lady, Heavenly Queen, for truth and justice. Here in Australia tv stations are still finding ways to drag up cases against priests who were tried, imprisoned and have since died….just to keep the irons hot and the media gabbing against the Church. As recent as tonight. Rosary…