I know this has been a pile on against Pell but given these allegations against Pell and others have been in the news so long news of a conviction brings a sense of relief to some and anguish to others. My mother was quite distressed when I told her last year about the conviction and I can understand many parishiners being so.
I was an alter boy and have pinched the alter in concert with other alters boys as well from the vestry. I've also been changing there when a priest has been present, nothing untoward ever happened that I knew of. The opportunity would definitely been there for a sinister act to occur afterwards on some occasions though. It was quite common to chat to the priest afterwards as we were quite often congratulated for a job well done.
There have been other allegations against Pell over the years dating back to the early 60's but the one from the Ballarat pool during the stands out for me and I still remember the main accusers statement from all those years ago. He said all the boys knew to get out of the water when "Big George" was in the pool. Some key piece of evidence was ruled inadmissible this morning relating to that case which is why the charges were dropped today. I think that incident has been put forward at least 4 times over the years and a reformed herion addict couldn't match it with the churches lawyers.
