SYDNEY (CNS) Cardinal George Pell of Sydney said that a 2003 letter he sent to a man who had been sexually assaulted by a priest in 1982 was "badly worded and a mistake". Cardinal Pell’s admission came during a July 8 press conference called in response to a television show. The show reported the cardinal wrote to Anthony Jones that his claims against Terrence Goodall, a former priest, could not be substantiated. The cardinal wrote that no other allegations had been made against the priest.
However, it was reported, the cardinal’s letter was written the same day he had accepted the findings of church investigator Howard Murray that Goodall also had abused an 11-year-old altar boy.
In his letter, Cardinal Pell said that Jones’ complaint of attempted aggravated sexual assault against Goodall "cannot be considered to have been substantiated" because it could be interpreted "as homosexual behavior by two consenting adults."
"In the end it is Father Goodall’s word against yours," the cardinal wrote.
At the July 8 press conference, Cardinal Pell described his wording in the letter as "an overstatement" and "a mistake."
"I accepted Howard Murray’s two basic recommendations — the first that Father Goodall be assessed for suitability to continue acting as a priest. This was done and then he was stood down from priestly activity," Cardinal Pell said.
"Secondly, that the allegations of both complainants had been sustained and that they be offered remedial assistance," the cardinal added. "However, I differed from Murray because I did not believe that there was sufficient evidence of rape where that was alleged."
Goodall later was convicted of indecently assaulting Jones.
Cardinal Pell said in a follow-up radio interview which aired in Sydney that Jones’ civil claims against the Catholic Church had been settled recently and no compensation would be paid.
"There were mistakes made in the letter but otherwise procedures were good," Cardinal Pell said, adding that he now considered the case closed.
Questions continued to surround church officials who handled the case, as leaked documents from the church’s sexual abuse forum, the Office of Professional Standards, emerged late July 8 on the Lateline television programme. In the documents, dated June 2003, five months after Cardinal Pell’s letter to Jones, Goodall admitted to sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl.