ABC's Lateline: Get Pell!

Tony Jones and the crew of ABC Lateline can pat themselves on the back. Their roasting of Cardinal Pell has spread like wildfire through the media, enflaming its smouldering anti-Catholic bigotry. The flames of that bigotry burn, as usual, the whole Catholic community, mostly ordinary innocent people who can only look on appalled as a gutless unconscionable rabble try to destroy another good man.

Tony Jones and his government funded program were back last night with their choicest faggots to feed the flames lapping around the Cardinal's chin. As the faggots were continually piled around the Cardinal lashed to stake, the person of ordinary decency would have to wonder how it had come to this, considering in large outline the course of events and the conclusion to the charge brought by Anthony Jones against the Catholic Church.

The charge, in large outline, was that Fr Goodall had sexually abused Jones after a night out when Jones was twenty-eight-years-old. The charge made its way first through the Toward Healing protocol. Then Jones had his day both in the civil and criminal courts. Fr Goodall pleaded guilty to the criminal charge of "indecent assault", as opposed to "aggravated sexual assault".

This difference is of the greatest moment. "Indecent assault" is, for example, slipping one's hand into a man's pants and fondling his penis, which is what Fr Goodall pleaded guilty to. "Aggravated sexual assault" is violent rape earning the offender twenty years jail. When Cardinal Pell is investigating a charge of sexual abuse, then he had better get right the seriousness of the charge. It may mean the difference between a sentence of four seconds ("until the court rises") which was Fr Goodall's sentence, and twenty years jail.

Anthony Jones did not do so well in the civil court. His claim for damages of $3.5 million failing, he came to a confidential settlement with the Church. This concluded a process which was overseen by people independent of the Catholic Church, and a process heavily loaded in favour of the complainant.

What happened, then? Why is Cardinal Pell trussed to the stake, with flaming faggots tormenting him on all sides?

The answer is that the Cardinal made a mistake, a mistake he admitted and apologised for, but most importantly a mistake that centred on the difference between the charges of "indecent assault" and "aggravated sexual assault". Well, despite a fair conclusion to the charges, considering the circumstances, it was enough for Anthony Jones to take up regaling the public with a performance so melodramatic and ridiculous in the extreme that only the pitifully credulous and those that had an agenda would swallow it.

Cardinal Pell's mistake was made into a faith-destroying, life-destroying lie, which the Cardinal's haters worked over in a frenzy. Lateline's snotnose cub reporter, Conor Duffy, obviously wanting to be the man who shot Billy the Kid, twisted himself inside out to manufacture a picture of a deceiving Cardinal, but managed in terms of his own standards of truth to come across as a liar and fabricator. This will be the subject on a following comment, as will be the person of Anthony Jones and his possible motivations and backers.

In yesterday's comment, I suggested that a careless administrative blunder was the likely reason for Cardinal Pell sending a letter to Anthony Jones with factually incorrect information. I gave three different arguments to support this suggestion. I also raised the question Anthony Jones's political motives and allegiances. I emailed Lateline with a link to my comment. Lateline did not address these questions, obviously thinking there was no other side to the issue than the line they were pursuing.

comments: gerardwilson01@optusnet.com.au