Archbishop of Sydney

Exoneration

By + George Pell
ARCHBISHOP OF SYDNEY
20 October 2002

The Enquiry exonerated me, finding that the charges could not be established, because of the very long period of time since the alleged events, doubts about the credibility of the complainant, the absence of corroboration among those at the camp, and my own sworn evidence of innocence.

But the terrorist atrocity, the deaths and suffering of many people in Bali, not just Australians, put my own personal discomfort in a new context. So many people who were so much worse off. So many young people dead or horribly wounded. My heart goes out to them and their families and loved ones. Although it occurred overseas, and with a lower death toll, this was our September 11 disaster. The age of innocence for Australia, which began after World War II, is now over.

We Christians claim that we should be able to cope with suffering and misfortune better than people with no religion. The Christian teachings on suffering are unusual, quite different from common sense, as the best known symbol of Christianity is the crucifix, a young man dying on a cross. Christians claim that all persons are saved by Christ's suffering and death, the prelude to his resurrection.

In a similar way, our suffering too can be turned to spiritual profit, through an act of faith and through a proper mixture of fighting what needs to be fought and accepting what is unavoidable.

One nun wrote telling me of a small saying of Mother Mary MacKillop, who will be Australia's first saint; "Jesus is closest to us in our darkest times". Most of the time a did not feel like this, but in faith we know it to be true.

a received well over 1000 messages, many of them from groups of people, from Australia and overseas; most promising prayers. A few people who were very sick with cancer or heart problems promised to offer up their pain to help my situation.

Is this superstition? Is it worthless and futile? a don't believe so. When Christ taught us to pray in the "Our Father", he encouraged us to pray for our everyday needs, calling them "our daily bread". A was certainly in need.

Years ago a priest who was dying said we should get our praying done before we fall grievously ill, because prayer then becomes too hard. A had no great problem with daily Mass, or the official daily prayer of the Church, largely psalms and readings, but meditation was very difficult. Too easily it slipped into thinking about my problems. So a was reduced to a slow reading of Matthew's gospel. This helped a lot. Prayer heals us.

a number of people wrote to me about their dark moments. Some of them had also been accused falsely and one or two had to suffer almost alone. This was not my situation. A was blessed with marvellous support from family and friends, strong support from my brother priests and bishops and especially from those who live with me at Cathedral House.

Loyal friends are worth much more than achievements, possessions or money.