Former priest says defence of Pell a sign of cultural problems in the Tasmanian church

An opinion article defending disgraced Cardinal George Pell is a sign of cultural problems in the Catholic Church in Tasmania, according to a former Catholic priest.

AN opinion article defending disgraced Cardinal George Pell is a sign of cultural problems in the Catholic Church in Tasmania, according to a former Catholic priest.

Julian Punch said the opinion article, published in an edition of the Catholic Standard that was withdrawn from distribution on Friday, was “contrary to everything that Pope Francis is trying to change in the Catholic Church in response to historic sexual abuse”.

He also said it was contrary to the findings and recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The director of Hobart’s Christopher Dawson Centre for Cultural Studies, David Daintree, apologised “unreservedly” on Friday “for any offence I may have caused”.

TASMANIAN CATHOLIC NEWSPAPER WITHDRAWN

Dr Daintree said it was never his intention to cast doubt on survivors.

Dr Daintree’s opinion piece, in which he described Pell as an innocent man who would “survive the wickedness of his accusers and the silence of many who should defend him but won’t” was printed in the March edition of the Catholic Standard — published by the Archdiocese of Hobart — that was due to be distributed this weekend.

The edition was withdrawn, but it was available from at least one Hobart church on Friday before the archdiocese decided to withdraw it later that day.

Mr Punch said it was one thing to withdraw the article, but he said it came from “a culture that is developing within the church”.

George Pell in his 2016 police interview in Rome. Picture: SUPPLIED

A Victorian County Court jury found Pell, 77, guilty of the sexual abuse of two 13-year-old choirboys at St Patrick’s Cathedral while he was Archbishop of Melbourne.

Pell, who is behind bars awaiting sentence, has applied for leave to appeal against the conviction in the Court of Appeal.

A Hobart lawyer who represents victims of child sexual abuse, Sebastian Buscemi, said Dr Daintree had decided Pell was innocent without having seen the evidence.

“The evidence which the jury relied on, the testimony of the victim, is not something Dr Daintree, or anyone outside the legal teams, the jury and the judge, are privy to,” Mr Buscemi said.

Mr Buscemi said a court may, on appeal, find that Pell should not have been convicted.

“Until that point it is disappointing to see that the church and its supporters have learnt nothing,” he said.

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Mr Buscemi said it was hard enough for survivors to work up the courage to talk about what happened to them.

“Every day I am reminded of this, I have lost count of the number of clients who have shed tears, not because of the horror they have described to me, but because I have done what they never thought possible: believed them,” he said.

In a statement issued on Friday afternoon, the Archdiocese of Hobart said it decided to immediately withdraw the March edition of the Catholic Standard from distribution because of concerns raised about Dr Daintree’s opinion article.

“The Archdiocese of Hobart strongly condemns all forms of child sexual abuse and is committed to working with victims and their families to address the great suffering they have experienced.”

An amended edition of the Catholic Standard will be published this week.

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