Mission & Justice

By Katelyn John; 18/6/08

Sydney bashing victim Lauren Huxley has described being blessed by the Pope as a huge honour and a “once in a lifetime opportunity”. Just metres from the courtroom where Robert Black Farmer was last month sentenced to 24 years’ jail for her attempted murder, Ms Huxley and nine other Sydney youths today met Pope Benedict XVI during a ceremony for disadvantaged youths at Darlinghurst’s Church of the Sacred Heart. Dressed in a grey dress and black coat and supported by her father’s arm around her waist, Ms Huxley exchanged a few words with Pope Benedict and received a blessing. After the ceremony, Ms Huxley told reporters meeting the pontiff had been an “unbelievable” experience.

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Stephen Lunn; 18/7/08

Pope Benedict XVI should not be praising Kevin Rudd for his “courageous” apology to the indigenous Stolen Generations when he hasn’t been prepared to say sorry to victims of sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests. Victims’ support group Broken Rites yesterday expressed disappointment the Pope had so far failed to make a meaningful public apology to abuse victims during World Youth Day celebrations after earlier suggesting he would. The group’s spokeswoman, Chris MacIsaac, said the pontiff had an ideal opportunity while in Australia to say sorry to hundreds of abuse victims in a similar vein to Mr Rudd’s apology to indigenous Australians taken from their families, but even if he expressed regret, it is likely to be carefully crafted. “The victims need an apology made with emotion, one that convinces them deep down the Catholic Church hierarchy understands how sexual abuse affected their lives,” Ms MacIsaac said. “Mr Rudd did that for the Stolen Generation, there were victims present on the day, and he also made it clear it was a only a starting point to the healing, which is something the Pope could also consider saying.

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Letters: The Sydney Morning Herald: 17/7/08

George Pell’s admonishment to young pilgrims to struggle against their “fat, relentless egos” would perhaps have made more sense coming from someone without a public relations officer, someone who so obviously enjoys the trappings of office, including an insistence on being called “Your Eminence” (”An appeal on struggle to the lone lost sheep”, July 16). Perhaps a rereading of Matthew 7:3 might be in order (”Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”): Sunil Badami; Rozelle

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James Madden; 17/6/08

The issue of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy members flared again yesterday after the co-ordinator of World Youth Day, Bishop Anthony Fisher, was accused of making insensitive remarks about the case of two sisters who were raped by a priest. On Tuesday, ABC TV reported that Anthony and Christine Foster, whose daughters Emma and Katherine were repeatedly raped by Melbourne priest Kevin O’Donnell when they were in primary school in the early 1990s, were seeking a personal audience this week with Pope Benedict XVI and Sydney Archbishop George Pell. Mr Foster said he would not accept a papal apology to sexual abuse victims unless the Pope also changed the way the church and its lawyers dealt with those victims. But the story took another turn yesterday when Bishop Fisher appeared to play down the Foster abuse case, suggesting the matter - and the sexual abuse claims aired publicly last week by former Catholic teacher Anthony Jones - were detracting from this week’s Catholic jamboree.

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Michael Pelly; 16/7/08

Student activists were given the green light to annoy World Youth Day pilgrims yesterday when the Federal Court ruled that special laws for the event restricted the freedom of speech. In a 3-0 decision, the court said the attempt to regulate public conduct was beyond the scope of the World Youth Day Act and therefore invalid. However, the judges knocked out only the “anti-annoyance” clause, leaving open the possibility that protesters could still be fined up to $5500 for causing inconvenience to pilgrims. The controversial laws, passed via government gazette on June 25, said people could be directed to “cease engaging in conduct that is a risk to the safety of the person or others, or causes annoyance or inconvenience to participants, or obstructs” a WYD event

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15/7/08

The parents of two girls who were sexually abused by a Melbourne priest say they will not accept the Pope’s apology to clergy abuse victims unless it is backed up by action. Anthony and Christine Foster were tonight travelling back to Australia from Europe after vowing to confront the Pope and Sydney Archbishop Cardinal George Pell during World Youth Day celebrations over the Church’s approach to abuse victims. Mr Foster’s daughter Emma ended her own life this year at the age of 26, after struggling to come to terms with the abuse she suffered at primary school at the hands of Father Kevin O’Donnell. O’Donnell, who died in 1997 after serving time in jail for multiple sex offences, also abused Emma’s sister Katie, who turned to alcohol in her teens and was involved in an accident which left her brain-damaged and in need of constant care.

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Matthew Clayfield; 15/7/08

The Burmese junta was not the only government standing between Burma’s Catholics and World Youth Day. The Australian Government was similarly reluctant to let the 33 pilgrims, six priests and three nuns into the country, refusing to grant any visas until only two days ago. “It was probably the political situation,” the group’s spokesman, priest Philip Shwe, said in Sydney yesterday. “The Australian Government wanted to make sure every Burmese would go back to the country. They know (Burma) is a very poor country and we would like to stay here,” Father Shwe said. “They don’t want that to happen, so they wanted to make sure we’d go back to Burma.” Father Shwe, whose diocese is in the southern part of Burma, said none of the pilgrims whose visas to visit had been granted were planning to claim asylum in Australia.

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14/7/07

A poll by social networking giant MySpace brands the Catholic Church “out of touch” with young people, just ahead of its World Youth Day event in Sydney. The online poll, which targeted Australians aged 14 to 24, found 77 per cent of respondents felt the church was out of touch with them.  Of “non Catholic and non-Christian” respondents, 65 per cent said World Youth Day held no relevance to them at all. More than half (53 per cent) also said they would not participate in World Youth Day events, to be staged across Sydney over six days from Tuesday, because of the church’s stance on sexuality”. But that was not the most emphatic result, as 89 per cent overall rejected the Catholic Church’s teaching that they should remain virgins until they married.

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Sarah Price; 13/7/08

Ray Martin, chosen by the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, to front the official World Youth Day television coverage, has criticised the special powers given to police to restrict public protests and says he does not believe they were sought by the organisers of the event. “This isn’t like APEC,” he said. “I think the police, the Government has been heavy-handed about this. I don’t think it’s necessary. “I think there will be protests and the powers will mean more. “I’m very wary about giving police any powers they don’t need.”

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Victor Simpson, Belinda Cranston & Rachel Browne; 13/7/08

Pope Benedict said yesterday he wants to apologise to victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and wake up consciences on climate change during his pilgrimage in Australia. The Pope said while flying to Sydney to begin a 10-day visit for World Youth Day that he would apologise to victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in Australia “just as I did in the United States” this year.

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