Charity Shackled
Thursday, December 20, 2001
[Background: Archbishop Peter Hollingworth was appointed Governor-General of Australia by the PM John Howard. With unseemly haste, efforts were made to drown him in scandal. The grounds used were that he was the head of the Anglican church in Brisbane 11 years ago when a case of child abuse by a teacher working in an Anglican school in that diocese. Hollingworth was targeted on the grounds that he personally did not do enough to help the hurt families. Snipers were calling for his resignation.]
The Australian
The Age
[December 20, 2001]
Why are we talking about governor-general Peter Hollingworth as if he has done something extraordinary?
One of the sick aspects of our whole society today is that whenever someone is hurt by an employee of an organization, lawyers and insurers demand - under threat of ruin - that its executives refrain from taking responsibility, apologizing or providing timely concrete support to the victims. All the decent human responses.
Let’s not pretend that only Peter Hollingworth has been put in this sickening position. It is happening every day, all through our society.
Philip O'Carroll