Cardinal Pell’s Due Process
One might well describe the conviction of Cardinal Pell a travesty of justice, but we will likely never know, as the trial was ‘blacked out’, which does not mean everyone was singing Mammy in minstrelsy – although, given the comic level of due process, they might as well have been. There is an old adage that it is not enough for justice to be done, but justice must be seen to be done, which is why secret trials – the usual mode of justice in Stalinist Russia – should be against the law.
It is no secret, however, that there was a vivid anti-Catholic bias not just in the courtroom, but in Australian culture in general; much like Ireland, has ‘chucked the Faith’; now in the main, Aussies, especially those of a certain millennial age, live lives of empty and bitter hedonism, which may taste good at first, but will lead to a rather severe eternal stomach ache, and worse.
How is one to prove allegations that are decades old? It is witness against witness, a septuagenarian Cardinal of a conservative disposition, against a middle-aged ‘chorister’ who claims said Cardinal ‘sexually abused’ him after Sunday Mass in the eighties. How this was done in a crowded sacristy with multiple witnesses was apparently never made fully clear. But that vague charge, which covers just about anything, sticks to the accused like wet clothes; no, worse, it’s like being branded on the forehead with a big scarlet ‘A’. Even if acquitted, the Cardinal’s reputation would have been ruined.
Cardinal Pell has always maintained his innocence, and is appealing the decision of the court. What really happened in a case such as this can never really be proved beyond any semblance of reasonable doubt – which is why there is and should be a statue of limitations on such accusations – and all we can hope is that God’s justice will win out in the end, when all things – and the hearts of all men – are revealed on the last day which, given the acceleration of things, may be closer than we think. At least, at times, one may hope so.
Carney’s Amoral Majority
After five defections – euphemistically described as ‘crossing the floor’ – and three by-elections, Mark Carney and his Liberals how have their coveted majority. One wonders what bowls of pottage were offered in back-room deals. In the archaic monarchical system that is the Dominion of Canada, this majority allows the newly-minted Prime Minister to rule[…]Continue reading→
Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress
This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→
A Tale of Two Benedicts
A grace-filled Holy Week to all our readers! As we await and prepare for the Resurrection about to dawn upon us, we might keep in mind two Benedicts: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, requiescat in pace, elected on this day in 2005; and today’s commemoration of the mystic pilgrim, Benedict Joseph Labre, who died on this[…]Continue reading→
My Name is Bernadette
April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]Continue reading→
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam and Suffering Joyfully
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam (1380 – 1433) was one of the countless and glorious ‘victim souls’ in the history of the Church, those whose lives are filled with suffering, often of an unimaginable intensity, but who suffer joyfully. She was a fifteen-year old Dutch girl, out skating one day, when she fell and broke one[…]Continue reading→
The Glorious Martyrdoms of Martin and Maximus
As we enter into Eastertide, we recall on this 13th of April Pope Saint Martin I (+655), one of the noblest, if most tragic, of the successors of Saint Peter. Born in Umbria, Italy, he was of noble lineage, with great intelligence combined with charity and love of the poor and the Church. While still[…]Continue reading→
Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów
We celebrate Saint Stanislaus today (+ April 11, 1079), in light of this Easter Octave, a bishop and martyr who accepted the episcopacy only at the direct order of Pope Alexander II. He proved a wise and courageous leader of his flock, put to death by his own king, Boleslaus, for rebuking the monarch’s ‘immoral[…]Continue reading→
Saint Gemma Galgani
On this April 11th, in 1903 – the same year that the Italian Guiseppe Sarto was elected Pope later that summer as Pius X – a lovely, young Italian woman died, by the name of Gemma Galgani. She lived a brief life of 24 years, as did a number of other young saints, including Pier[…]Continue reading→
An Ideological and Improper Translation
I noticed something odd with the psalm reading at Mass the other day. Our bishops’ conference here in Canada has decreed that the Mass in English – Novus Ordo – use the ‘NRSV’, the ‘New Revised Standard Version’, an ‘updated’ translation of the original RSV, first published in 1952. This ‘new translation’ has the tendency[…]Continue reading→
Saint Jean-Baptiste de la Salle: A Teacher for Teachers
Jean-Baptiste de la Salle (1651 – 1719), a French nobleman, ordained a priest, founded the first order in the Church’s history entirely without priests, and this came about almost by accident. I say ‘almost’, for, of course, there are no accidents with God. Destined for ordination from an early age, Jean-Baptiste never looked back, even[…]Continue reading→