George Pell’s legacy: on institutional child sexual abuse

Over the past two days, we have reflected on the coverage of George Pell's death and why it is stirring so many complex and intense emotions across our community.

To many of us, Pell was not just the face of the Catholic church in Australia; he embodied the systemic sexual abuse of children by the Catholic church. He was part of the last generation that believed they could commit and facilitate this violence with total impunity. He was one of the few who, due to the heroic efforts of survivors, their families and advocates, faced some small degree of accountability during his lifetime, though not nearly enough.

George Pell's trial was a potent example, too, of the current limits of the law in grappling with sexual assault.

It has been 10 years since the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was established and where over 16,000 individuals told their stories. The Royal Commission found that the greatest number of alleged perpetrators and abused children were in Catholic institutions.[1] George Pell will forever represent this horror and the historical generational shift that followed.

For this reason, we want to acknowledge the distress and hurt experienced, particularly by survivors of church abuse, when George Pell's complicity in institutional child sexual abuse is minimised and his failure of leadership is condoned. Such distress is made more acute when praise comes from powerful public figures.

When there is intense media coverage of high-profile sexual violence cases, we see an increased demand for the specialist therapeutic support provided by our member services. When George Pell was accused of sexual abuse himself in 2017, the sector received funding colloquially known as the 'George Pell funding boost'. This is part of the legacy he leaves.

Now, as his death dominates the news, the essential staff in our specialist sexual assault services will be the first place to call for many survivors. Long before the Australian community and government recognised the widespread nature of institutional child abuse, Counsellor Advocates and services in our sector believed survivors and backed them, amplifying their voices and fighting for change. The work of Ballarat CASA exemplifies this. We take great pride in their role in exposing the violence in the Ballarat Diocese and in supporting survivors in their healing and struggle for justice. We know that for staff there, and in our services across the state, this work has required sacrifice and struggle.

We hear many articles talk about Pell as a big man, in stature, status and the power that he had over others and within the Catholic church. Indeed, the struggle for institutional child sexual abuse to be admitted to and stopped has been a David and Goliath battle. Survivors and other advocates have taken on mighty figures such as Pell, and, ultimately, have prevailed.

The vast majority of Australians now recognise that institutional child sexual abuse is pervasive and pernicious. Legal changes such as reform of tendency and coincidence evidence rules will change trials for the better. Survivors have forced the Catholic church and other institutions to compensate them. The Royal Commission has ensured that institutional leaders know they will now be brought to account if they enable child sexual abuse.

Significant change is still needed so that survivors do not continue to pay such a high price but there is no doubt that in challenging men like Pell, survivors and their advocates have created deep change. That Pell's name and legacy will always be linked to the Catholic Church's culpability in the rape of children is one significant sign of that.

[1] Final Report from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Preface and Executive Summary (2017). P6