Victorian Catholic priest and all-around legend Father Bob Maguire has thrown his support behind Tim Minchin’s controversial charity single Come Home (Cardinal Pell), which calls for Cardinal George Pell to return to Australia to give evidence at a Royal Commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse.
Speaking with ABC 105.7 Darwin, Father Bob has gone against the church’s official line by saying the conversations, forums, and Royal Commissions into child sexual abuse by clergymen is “all talk” compared to Minchin’s actions.
“You break through all of that with a cry from the heart, and that’s what he’s done you see,” Father Bob says. “I think it needed to be done by somebody.”
When questioned about Minchin’s use of words like “coward” and “scum” to describe Cardinal Pell in his song, Father Bob says, “It’s art. In a work of art, which is what Minchin was doing… the heart speaks another language from the mind, and it’s all short sharp four letter words, it’s grunts it’s piercing screams, it’s whimpering.
“In the light of the enormity of the tragedy of the people who’ve been taken advantage of by clergymen in positions of trust, I think that all other sentiments including team loyalty have got to fade into significance.”
Minchin released Come Home (Cardinal Pell) (below) last week, after Cardinal Pell cited a doctor’s certificate to claim he is too ill to fly to Australia to take part in next week’s Royal Commission.
Some abuse survivors from Ballarat are set to travel to Rome this week to witness Pell give evidence to the Commission via video link on Monday, 1st March. The survivors raised money for their trip through a successful crowdfunding campaign which also received proceeds from the sale of Come Home (Cardinal Pell).
Earlier this month, a Herald Sun report claimed that a taskforce had been set up to investigate allegations that Cardinal Pell was involved in the alleged sexual abuse of children, but the Cardinal has refuted the claims.
Catch Father Bob’s full radio interview and video message below, alongside Minchin’s masterful Cardinal Pell take-down, below.
