Appearing as a panellist on the ABC program, Rabbi Shmuley said he thought the country was having trouble coming to terms with the news.
“As someone who has visited Australia for three decades, I think the country is deeply traumatised by this story. In a way that no-one is fully recognising.
“Here you have one of the most famous Australians in the world, a global religious statesperson who is the most senior religious figure in the country being accused, convicted now, of unspeakable crimes.”
“And we need not be the most religious society to still be deeply traumatised by the conversation, by the degree of the allegations and now the conviction.
Rabbi Shmuley compared the divisive opinions in the Australian media to those around the controversial OJ Simpson murder trial, saying at the time “half the country believed justice had been done”.
The Rabbi said he “understood” the differing points of view.
“It’s difficult to accept that a person of such high religious standing can be guilty of such heinous crimes.
“He may be innocent. But there must be accountability.”
Rabbi Shmuley arrived in Australia last Tuesday, when the Department of Public Prosecutions threw out another case against Pell. At this time a suppression order from the court was lifted, and news of his sentencing for five counts of sexual assault of a child under 16.
In Australia, almost 25 per cent of the population is made up of Catholics. Given that this situation with Cardinal Pell has occurred, there’s going to be a lot of sorrowful and perhaps even depressed people throughout the country,” Amanda said.
“How do the panel suggest we come to terms with this, given that human beings are frail and the Church to us as Catholics was sacrosanct and above and beyond sinful acts.
“How do you suggest a quarter of the country come to terms with it? Because we’re part of the victimhood as well, apart from the children.”
KENEALLY: ‘THE NATION IS TRAUMATISED’
“I don’t have an answer. I really don’t. I will agree … that the nation is traumatised. I know Catholics are traumatised,” said Labor Senator Kristina Keneally, who was raised Catholic and said the Church was previously of great importance to her.
“I have long lost faith in the institution of the Catholic Church. And I mourn the loss of my faith community. But I made a decision a few years ago that I could not, as a lay person, continue to prop up a family and decaying institution with my voluntary labour and my money.
“And I would say to the women of Australia, the Catholic women of Australia, let’s consider what would happen if all Catholic women withdrew their voluntary labour from the Catholic Church which really does prop up the system.”
Senator Keneally said while she still had faith and tried to pray she found many like-minded Catholics around “in the same boat”.
“I think the nation is traumatised, particularly the Catholic portion,” the Senator concluded.
“The idea that priests or clergy are somehow changed at the time of their ordination, that they become God here on earth, particularly during the administration of the Catholic Rights, that has put clergy in an enormous position of power and it has generated the concept that clergy and priests are somehow sacrosanct,” Dr Waller explained.
“They’re higher in the pecking order than lay people, they’re closer to God. And parishioners in a Catholic Church can’t commune with their God.”
“As someone who has visited Australia for three decades, I think the country is deeply traumatised by this story. In a way that no-one is fully recognising.
“Here you have one of the most famous Australians in the world, a global religious statesperson who is the most senior religious figure in the country being accused, convicted now, of unspeakable crimes.”
“And we need not be the most religious society to still be deeply traumatised by the conversation, by the degree of the allegations and now the conviction.
Rabbi Shmuley compared the divisive opinions in the Australian media to those around the controversial OJ Simpson murder trial, saying at the time “half the country believed justice had been done”.
The Rabbi said he “understood” the differing points of view.
“It’s difficult to accept that a person of such high religious standing can be guilty of such heinous crimes.
“He may be innocent. But there must be accountability.”
Rabbi Shmuley arrived in Australia last Tuesday, when the Department of Public Prosecutions threw out another case against Pell. At this time a suppression order from the court was lifted, and news of his sentencing for five counts of sexual assault of a child under 16.
In Australia, almost 25 per cent of the population is made up of Catholics. Given that this situation with Cardinal Pell has occurred, there’s going to be a lot of sorrowful and perhaps even depressed people throughout the country,” Amanda said.
“How do the panel suggest we come to terms with this, given that human beings are frail and the Church to us as Catholics was sacrosanct and above and beyond sinful acts.
“How do you suggest a quarter of the country come to terms with it? Because we’re part of the victimhood as well, apart from the children.”
KENEALLY: ‘THE NATION IS TRAUMATISED’
“I don’t have an answer. I really don’t. I will agree … that the nation is traumatised. I know Catholics are traumatised,” said Labor Senator Kristina Keneally, who was raised Catholic and said the Church was previously of great importance to her.
“I have long lost faith in the institution of the Catholic Church. And I mourn the loss of my faith community. But I made a decision a few years ago that I could not, as a lay person, continue to prop up a family and decaying institution with my voluntary labour and my money.
“And I would say to the women of Australia, the Catholic women of Australia, let’s consider what would happen if all Catholic women withdrew their voluntary labour from the Catholic Church which really does prop up the system.”
Senator Keneally said while she still had faith and tried to pray she found many like-minded Catholics around “in the same boat”.
“I think the nation is traumatised, particularly the Catholic portion,” the Senator concluded.
“The idea that priests or clergy are somehow changed at the time of their ordination, that they become God here on earth, particularly during the administration of the Catholic Rights, that has put clergy in an enormous position of power and it has generated the concept that clergy and priests are somehow sacrosanct,” Dr Waller explained.
“They’re higher in the pecking order than lay people, they’re closer to God. And parishioners in a Catholic Church can’t commune with their God.”
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