CARDINAL GEORGE PELL, A WHITE MARTYR FOR CHRIST

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Faithful Catholics throughout the world will be appalled at the failure of Cardinal George Pell's appeal against his conviction for sexual abuse of two choirboys twenty-something years ago. 

But I might have known. 

I was taken aback and dismayed during my short stay in Australia recently when in St Patrick's Cathedral, Bendigo Victoria, I came across a list of answers to the question, 'What Aspects of Parish Life are helpful?' asked at a Parish Assembly in June. (So Australian parishes are subjected to the same footling, navel-gazing exercises we have here.)

The answer which riveted me was 'Courage of Parish to address the challenge with the George Pell situation'. Not 'Cardinal George Pell, Prince of the Church'. No. Just 'George Pell'. 

What 'courage' was needed to pray for and defend an obviously innocent man? The Victorian police had launched an investigation against him two years before they could fetch up with an accuser. His 'crime' was physically impossible; he was given an alibi by a priest, the cathedral's master of ceremonies, Monsignor Charles Portelli; in Cardinal Pell's first trial, it's widely believed, 10 of the jury of 12 voted to acquit; his accuser's testimony appeared, almost word for word, in a 2011 issue of Rolling Stone magazine, in a description of an alleged assault against an American priest. The journalist who uncovered the story stated the two cases' similarity point by point, calling them "uncanny" and concluding the witness' account was "a sham". 

'Courage of Parish to address the George Pell situation' spoke volumes. The Cathedral Parish of Bendigo Victoria seemingly had found 'George Pell' guilty. One can only imagine the avidity with which parishioners read The Rise and Fall of George Pell, by one Louise Milligan, a bestseller in spite of its awful writing and ridiculous claims.

Hands up, anyone who has heard Cardinal George Pell defended from the pulpit anywhere in the NZ Church of Nice? Hands up anyone who has even heard a call for prayer for this Prince of the Church, whose real crime in the sight of a huge majority of Australians was exactly that: his status as 'the Pope's right-hand man' and his forthright proclamation of the doctrine of the Catholic Church, that sodomy, contraception and abortion are sinful.

He was hunted down, put on trial and into jail because he is a defender of Christ and His Gospel. In my view, Cardinal George Pell suffering this vile injustice in a prison cell - like St Paul before him, in his chains - will achieve more for the Church than the rest of the priesthood put together.

Obviously the prayers offered for the repeal of his conviction were not enough. Mine, I know, were mingy. 

But the result is a white martyr for the Church. 

"White martyrdom” involves tremendous suffering accepted and offered up to God in union with the cross of Christ. It's a form of sainthood which, with the inevitable increase of persecution of faithful Catholics both within the Church and in society, is more accessible to us than perhaps ever before in the history of Christendom. 

Our Lord wants martyrs, needs martyrs. In Cardinal George Pell we have a model and all we need, says St Maximilian Kolbe (who should know) is to call on the Immaculate.The Blessed Virgin Mary, he says, will make sainthood "easy". Let's fix our gaze on "the things that are above" and go for it.  

White martyrdom consists in a man’s abandoning everything he loves for God’s sake, though he suffer fasting or labor thereat. 

Linda Clarke says:

This man is so good, so holy, so faithful, that in a way despite the failed  (so far) appeal he will be at peace, having loved God's Will for a long time.   What say you?!  And I for one, can't put my hands up as regards this parish here unfortunately, quite the opposite. Great blog!

I say: Yes, Cardinal Pell loves the Will of God. We can see he is at peace, by his demeanour throughout all the ignominies of his trial and conviction; always we are told, serene and gracious.

Bob Gill says:

I’ve heard it said that Cardinal Pell’s problem is his strength of character. That alone tells me he would have no shortage of enemies, especially in the New Zealand Catholic Church when trying to install any much needed orthodoxy.
And for those who still think liberalism is the way forward: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/.../with-record-number...

Paul Collits says:

They hate him for his efforts to re-introduce Catholicism to NZ seminaries, an effort that, alas, appears mostly to have been in vain.

2

I say:

The dismal failure of liberalism in the NZ Catholic Church is so obvious, one has to recognize the Satanic influence at work. If it were not so, how could so many of our clergy and laity be so misled?