Archbishop of Sydney

First Impressions

First Column lead-in for Sunday Telegraph.

By + George Pell
ARCHBISHOP OF SYDNEY
10 June 2001

Central Sydney reminds me of New York; the crowds, the bustle, the tall buildings, and the conviction of Sydneysiders that their's is the premier city. And so it is.

For someone who was born and raised in Ballarat, our winter is idyllic, although few locals realise the Sydney rainfall is nearly double Melbourne's. Both cities are cosmopolitan, but Melbourne is more English in style, reserved, sometimes elegant; the streets laid out straight and systematic.

Quite a few Melbournians here for my installation murmured that they had nothing to rival the beauty of Sydney's bays, rivers and beaches and no national symbols to equal the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge.

Most people in Sydney are not shy. Students will often say hello to me; even three skateboarders from the square came up to shake my hand. So too with most adults. All sorts of groups are enthusiastic to let us know their agenda.

"Sin City" is secularist spin. There are fewer unbelievers in Sydney and more Christians. Melbourne is a place where Catholics and unbelievers flourish.

Melbourne has fierce enduring loyalties, strong tribes. There is no Sydney equivalent to the followers of the Collingwood "footy" team, but Melbourne has no equal to the political and church dynasties of Sydney, where the tradition of service continues unabated.

The Sydney-Melbourne rivalry is long standing. To the dismay of their respective champions the cities have much in common. Sydney and Melbourne Catholic parishes are indistinguishable, and even the clerical stories overlap, with only the names of bishops changed.

I love both cities, but I now call Sydney home.