Cardinal George Pell has been met at the Australian Royal Commission into Child Sex Abuse by people demanding that he tell the truth.
It's Monday morning in Sydney, Australia. The cardinal arrived in a white car just before 9am at Governor Macquarie Tower.
As he was driven into the car park, a placard saying "tell the truth to the Royal Commission" was pressed up against the window of his car.
Jenny Brownley from Care Leavers Australia Network (CLAN) practically stopped the car and made sure the cardinal, sitting in the passenger's seat, saw her message.
At the entrance to the car park, a sign reminded the church that children had suffered at the hands of its priests.
On the Farrar Place side of the tower, where the hearing is underway on the 17th floor, the CLAN group added extra signage to the red placards calling on the Catholic Church to own up to its "sins".
One sign called on Cardinal Pell to confess.
On the packed 17th floor, abuse victim John Ellis was clapped as he arrived.
Mr Ellis is the man whose experiences with the church when he complained about abuse by a priest is the subject of the hearing by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The hearing is now in its third week.
I can't tell you the difficulty I have with the third most powerful man in the Catholic Church having to be encouraged to 'tell the truth'. If there is no fear of God in the third highest office in the Vatican, how does it carry-on calling itself a Christian Church?
One of my pastors said, just today, that the fear of God is like a sailor's relationship with the sea. He loves the sea, he's not happy when he's not on the sea, and yet, there's an element of fear present that they may run into a hurricane or violent storm. That can happen when God moves Heaven and earth to bring those of us who stray back into the kingdom. We should fear straying from God.
Please pray for the Catholic Church to develop a genuine fear of God. And please join me in praying my 3:15PM prayer for sexually abused children and those vulnerable to abuse.
It's Monday morning in Sydney, Australia. The cardinal arrived in a white car just before 9am at Governor Macquarie Tower.
 |
| Cardinal Pell |
Jenny Brownley from Care Leavers Australia Network (CLAN) practically stopped the car and made sure the cardinal, sitting in the passenger's seat, saw her message.
At the entrance to the car park, a sign reminded the church that children had suffered at the hands of its priests.
On the Farrar Place side of the tower, where the hearing is underway on the 17th floor, the CLAN group added extra signage to the red placards calling on the Catholic Church to own up to its "sins".
One sign called on Cardinal Pell to confess.
 |
| John Ellis |
On the packed 17th floor, abuse victim John Ellis was clapped as he arrived.
Mr Ellis is the man whose experiences with the church when he complained about abuse by a priest is the subject of the hearing by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The hearing is now in its third week.
I can't tell you the difficulty I have with the third most powerful man in the Catholic Church having to be encouraged to 'tell the truth'. If there is no fear of God in the third highest office in the Vatican, how does it carry-on calling itself a Christian Church?
One of my pastors said, just today, that the fear of God is like a sailor's relationship with the sea. He loves the sea, he's not happy when he's not on the sea, and yet, there's an element of fear present that they may run into a hurricane or violent storm. That can happen when God moves Heaven and earth to bring those of us who stray back into the kingdom. We should fear straying from God.
Please pray for the Catholic Church to develop a genuine fear of God. And please join me in praying my 3:15PM prayer for sexually abused children and those vulnerable to abuse.
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