George Pell sexual abuse trials and fresh investigation

[PyreneesPie]

If an innocent man is convicted of a crime and as a result a number of victims of similar crimes are able to feel symbolically vindicated and the organisation that tacitly supported those crimes is forced to reassess things, is that a miscarriage of justice or a good outcome?

In the circumstances, I'm inclined to say both

This is spot on with how I feel about it Stui.

If there has been a miscarriage of justice, then that's a matter of major concern to us and our society, regardless of who the wrongly convicted person is. (BTW, anyone been watching "Undercurrent: Real Murder Investigation on 7? A very interesting case).

On the other hand, I have had direct contact with victims whose lives have been utterly destroyed (and in some cases ended, by suicide) by the abuse inflicted by Catholic priests. So, if one particular Catholic priest should have to unjustly bear the retribution for this, I would call it karma!!

It's a case where both legal and natural justice are at work, it seems.

[K]

[HAL]

I'm not sure I understand the implication of that.

[David]

This may be relevant:

http://time.com/3625414/rape-trauma-brain-memory/

[K]

This is a little different:

https://www.today.com/news/mistaken-cri ... 1D79557125

Different because that sort of thing's about picking out a stranger among strangers.

Here, was it an already known person out of a list where all possible suspects were also known?

[stui magpie]

^

Interesting article.

The Amygdala hijack is a hardwired response to fear or trauma, also known as the Fight, flight or freeze reflex. people are usually hardwired to one of the 3

[K]

"Before Pell could be dismissed from the priesthood, the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) would have to find him guilty following a separate canonical trial or abbreviated procedure, known as an "administrative process".

The Vatican said on Wednesday the CDF was looking into the accusations against Pell.

The CDF could use information from the trial in Australia. But that information would have be entered formally into the Vatican's canonical judicial procedures -- as would happen if imported into any other country or institution's judicial system.

Depending on developments in the next few weeks and months, Pell could find himself in the awkward position of being seen as innocent by his Church but guilty by his government.
...

American author, theologian, and religious affairs commentator George Weigel, writing in the conservative religion journal First Things, called the verdict "perverse". The headline of the column was: "The Pell Affair: Australia is Now on Trial".

But Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, a U.S.-based group which tracks clergy abuse, said in a statement: "The Australian judicial system today put the Catholic Church on equal footing with other institutions." "

(Reuters)

[K]

[K]

[Pies4shaw]

This is a little different:

https://www.today.com/news/mistaken-cri ... 1D79557125

Different because that sort of thing's about picking out a stranger among strangers.

Here, was it an already known person out of a list where all possible suspects were also known?

Yep, I think I'd probably recognise the guy with the mitre in the lineup.

[K]

If all the guys in the lineup were wearing mitres, I'd want them all to take them off.

[Pies4shaw]

If all the guys in the lineup were wearing mitres, I'd want them all to take them off.

On Stui's theory, most of us would identify them all and testify against the lot of them.

[K]

That's what many Catholic voices are claiming, that jurors and the public refuse to distinguish between any of them.

[Pies4shaw]

That's what many Catholic voices are claiming, that jurors and the public refuse to distinguish between any of them.

Nah. Some of them are tall, some of them are short.

[ronrat]

I once went diving off Sydney with the Army and we stayed in an ex monastry in Port Hacking. 55 rooms and a a massive kitchen And grounds. The owner was an abalone fisherman who was worth a fortune and he paid 2 million for it in cash 25 years ago. As a teenager he lived next door and used a boat shed on the property to store his scuba gear. He earned pocket money by cleaning up the used condoms and keeping cockatoo for the priests who used to take the nuns down to the boatshed for sex. Perhaps it is time for the Catholic church to face reality and allow priests and nuns to get married and even live in a openly gay relationship.