Commentary
“I want you to rot in hell!” he shouted into the phone.
At the time (this was a few years ago) he was furious with me for defending Cardinal George Pell, who was facing the worst legal and personal persecution imaginable.
The caller revealed that he hated Christianity as well. I kept silent but was tempted to congratulate him for sticking to at least one element of his faith.
I could have added that if he got there on his own he might have been surprised to find the Cardinal in a different place.
There is no point in playing the toss with a man who has a heart full of anger and hate.
The truth is that many people in our community are so outraged by child sexual abuse that they ruthlessly appeal to the accused without considering the rules of evidence.
The fact that Pell was acquitted on appeal by the Supreme Court of Australia has nothing to do with such people. Some lawyers should have known better. Pell, regardless of his guilt or innocence, was charged against him…because he “may” be involved in similar cases.
And all the ancient safeguards associated with the presumption of innocence until proven guilty and the rules of evidence won for us by past generations before the onslaught of ignorant prejudice. That’s how it fell apart.
At his funeral mass in Sydney, people thanked God for Pell’s life and testimony, and prayed for the rest of his soul.
Inevitably there was a demonstration. A friend of mine who was there (not Catholic) talked about “rattled vile, hateful chants” and interestingly, almost all the protesters were clearly of European descent, clerics and clerics The majority of the choir was clearly not.
A warning to Woke readers: White men no longer seem to be the dominant players in modern Christianity.
Firmly with a sense of mission
I knew Cardinal Pell well, but I didn’t. We weren’t close friends, but I worked with him from time to time and met him many times socially and professionally.And I liked him. I found them warm, kind, wise, and sometimes very funny.
I think anything is possible in this world, but the idea that Pell could have been some kind of sexual predator is way off my list of possibilities, so off scale I can’t imagine how anyone who actually knew him could have such thoughts.
But I think it’s fair to say that despite all these good qualities I knew and admired, Pell didn’t succeed in the diplomatic corps.
A strong sense of duty, a stubborn devotion to orthodoxy, and a devotion to true justice are not generally considered lovable qualities in the secular world, but Pell was the first to set out to clean up stinky feces. became one of the bishops of -Start a plan to compensate Pedophilia Mountain and its victims.
So why is this ignored? Why do people hate him and continue to curse his memory even after his death?
First, he was a very solid and tough administrator. He took action against the Melbourne Seminary (which he determined was not fit for purpose), accepted the resignations of the staff who were offered against their expectations, and promptly appointed replacements.
Now “firm” managers are called “ruthless” by offended people and will never be forgiven.
So by the time Pell arrived in Sydney, he had made many bitter enemies within his own church (and believe me, the disgruntled parishioner was no one else’s). It can be more bitter than !).
a convenient outlet for our sins
A more significant factor in his unpopularity was his outspoken and unrelenting opposition to abortion, which he claimed was the worst form of child abuse.
Nothing was more calculated to anger the wider world. Killing unwanted children, whether before or after they are born, has always been viewed as evil not only by the Christian Church, but by other religions as well.
Even pagans see it as going against the “laws of nature”, which is why in the ancient world unwanted babies were exposed or left to die. Their excuse for this was a kind of theological fiction. Rather than killing them directly, it’s better to leave them up to the gods to save them if they want to.
But this is not what modern secularists want to hear.
Many of us have some connection with abortion. I know a poor woman who is afraid to eat with another mouth. Or a bullied woman who fears the wrath of her parents or boyfriend or lover. or women who are victims of incest or rape. Or women (and their partners) who cannot face raising a severely disabled baby.
Everyone who aborts a child is under some pressure.
The Persian Church teaches that abortion is always a sin and therefore forgiven.
Only God knows the secrets of our hearts. No one really understands why women go ahead. It’s not for us to judge.
But accepting the hypothesis that, at least for the moment, abortion is against the “laws of nature” and that mothers instinctively feel it is wrong can have two consequences. Deny by defending and justifying their actions.
When the latter option prevails, transferring guilt onto others is an easy transition.
This largely explains why so many people express an instinctive aversion to pedophilia that seems to be out of proportion to their reactions to other forms of child abuse.
We know that millions of children die each year from hunger and unsanitary water. We know that many of her 40 million slaves in the world are children.
We know that late abortion is nothing but infanticide and is very cruel. We know that in some jurisdictions abortion is allowed until natural delivery, and babies who somehow survive are left to die without resuscitation.
We know all these things, but our focus lies elsewhere.
They don’t fill in the headlines. they don’t offend us.
All in all, we don’t want to hear about them.
But Pell was a big target in every sense of the word. Condemn him to hell in our little minds, and like the scapegoat of old, he will take away all our guilt and make us feel right again.
how is that working for you?
Views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Epoch Times.