The Catholic Weekly 19 April 2020

$2 19, April, 2020 TO HAVE MASS ... OR NOT? THE LESSONS OF THE PELL CASE P12 Clare Communications Co PTY LTD See our website for more information on our services ‘A legacy of horror’ Outgoing VC hopes Pell case alerts Aussies to danger of media-police persecution 1 million tune in to Easter MORE THAN one million people across the country watched the Good Friday and Easter Sunday servic- es live from St Mary’s Ca- thedral last weekend. In a 7News special, the network streamed both broadcasts nationally on Channel 7 and on Prime 7 in regional areas and live-streamed on 7 Plus, winning both timeslots nationally. The Passion of Our Lord on Good Friday reached 545,000 broad- cast viewers with an addi- tional 86,000 live-stream- ing and social media viewers reaching a total audience of 631,000, 42.4 per cent of the available audience. The Easter Sunday 10.30am Mass reached a whopping 568,000 broad- cast viewers with a further 113,000 live-streaming and social media viewers reaching a total of 681,000 viewers – attracting a 46.3 per cent audience share. Overwhelmingly, the audiences were highest in the Sydney metropolitan area, followed by NSW, the ACT, Western Austral- ia and Queensland. Director of Commu- nications and News Me- dia for the Archdiocese of Sydney Anita Quigley said she was extremely pleased with the response from viewers from across the country while thank- ing 7News for recognis- ing the importance for the faithful to be able to participate in the Good Friday and Easter Sunday services. CONTINUED PAGE 2 I hope therewill be a growing awareness followed by ... horror that organs of the state [andmedia] can combine to produce legal results which are profoundly unsafe.” Professor Greg Craven A GROWING horror in Aus- tralia that such a thing as the conviction of Cardinal George Pell could ever have occurred should be one of the legacies of the whole affair, outgoing ACU Vice Chancellor Greg Craven said. Prof Craven, who an- nounced his retirement after having led Australia’s largest Catholic university for the last 12 years, told The Catho- lic Weekly this was his hope in the wake of the scandal. He said it was still too early ¾ ¾ Peter Rosengren to gauge what the legacy of the whole case would be. However, “I hope there will be a growing awareness followed by a growing horror that organs of the state like the police and parts of the media can combine to produce legal results which are profoundly unsafe and profoundly dan- gerous and the realisation that if it can happen to Cardinal Pell it can happen to anyone,” he said. The state of journal- ism as a major contributing factor to the whole debacle made two things obvious, he said. “There was an extraordi- nary group think and lack of ethics in parts of journalism. It’s now a mutually validating club, not about truth.” But for the Vice Chancel- lor whose own father was a journalist and who grew up around subediting tables as a regular experience of his youth, “more interesting was the complete collapse of jour- nalism as a craft, the total lack of ability in journalists to un- derstandwhat’s a story, what’s not, how to pursue it, how to balance facts - things my dad taught me in the 1970s. These were almost entirely absent.” However, he added, he had some sympathy for hapless contemporary journalists be- cause, as far as he could tell, they had never been taught their craft. Meanwhile, he said, “social media has largely destroyed quality journalism,” creating nothing more than an experiential forum gov- erned primarily by emotions. CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 DEBORAH LAWRIE has al- ways been more comfortable with her head in the clouds. As the world’s oldest fe- male commercial pilot, the Sydney-born aviator has spent more than 50 years in the cockpit and she’s not ready to hang up her wings just yet. Her employer, Tig- erair Australia, ceased oper- ations earlier this month due to the coronavirus leaving her unemployed. While finding a job at 66 years of age is never easy for anyone, the pioneer feels she still has a lot to offer when it’s ready to fly again. “I’m not done yet, I have so much experience and can add a lot of value when things pick up,” she said. “So much has changed since I started flying at 14 but my passion for it cer- tainly hasn’t.” FULL STORY PAGES 4-5 ¾ ¾ Debbie Cramsie Deborah’s still all-clear for take off ¾ ¾ Debbie Cramsie P18-19 Captain Deborah Lawrie at home in the cockpit.

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