One in five Australian students - nearly one in four in Victoria - is educated in the Catholic system, including some of our most prestigious schools such as St Kevin’s College in Melbourne and saint Ignatius' College Riverview in Sydney. It’s the largest non-government property owner, by value, in Victoria, and close to the largest in Australia, rivalling Westfield with its vast network of shopping centres.īut the church’s presence in Australia is far more than bluestone, bricks and mortar.

Nationally, the figure is more than $30 billion. As Fairfax Media reveals today, the church in Victoria holds assets worth more than $9 billion. Now it’s entrenched in the establishment, even in the once Protestant bastion of the Liberal Party.Īnd it’s rich. In its humble early days - Australia’s first Irish Catholics arrived in chains and were a persecuted minority - the church was the champion of the underdog, an integral part of the labour movement. The church is everywhere, its Gothic cathedrals prominent on city skylines, its parish churches dotted through suburbs and towns. Neil Ormerod no longer trusts the church to spend its wealth morally. What exactly is the Catholic Church in Australia? And what should we now make of the privileges afforded to one of the richest and most powerful, but most secretive and troubled, institutions in the country? In return, the church allows minimal insight into its finances, and has fought government attempts to prise open its accounts. While the Catholic Church may not exist legally, it has nonetheless accumulated staggering wealth through a huge property portfolio, insurance and investment arms, and its own internal banks.Īnd while it’s facing a crisis of trust, governments continue to exempt it from almost all rates and taxes, and tip billions of dollars annually into its vast network of schools, hospitals, health, employment and welfare agencies. What about the wider community’s assessment of the church and its finances? The church leadership had forfeited its right to his support. Ormerod’s faith in God remained strong, but his belief in the institutional church was severely shaken. 'It was used in an immoral attack on an abuse survivor and church member.'

'That money was the accumulated wealth of generations of good faithful Catholics who gave with the best will in the world,' says Ormerod. The church threatened to pursue Ellis for its legal costs. The church then dismissed Ellis’s proposal for a $100,000 settlement, instead spending $800,000 fighting him in court, successfully arguing it could not be sued because it did not exist as an entity. When Ellis finally confronted the Sydney archdiocese in 2002, then led by Pell, it offered him $25,000 in compensation, which he rejected. The trigger for his rebellion was the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in 2014 - in particular, Cardinal George Pell’s testimony about the church’s brutal legal assault on John Ellis, a former altar boy abused by a priest in the 1970s. In a unanimous decision all seven High Court judges found Victoria's Court of Appeal should not have upheld Pell's conviction It found the evidence could not support a guilty verdict.Īfter a lifetime contributing to the Catholic Church, Neil Ormerod could give no more.įollowing a Sunday mass in 2014, the Australian Catholic University theology professor told his parish priest he no longer trusted the church to use its resources in a way Jesus Christ would approve. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text sizeĮDITOR'S NOTE: The High Court overturned Cardinal George Pell's conviction for historic child sex offences in a judgment handed down April 7, 2020.

Catholic see finance problems