When young Bishop Anthony Fisher arrived for his first service as parish priest for his new parish church in the Sydney harbourside village of Watsons Bay he walked into the church with all the bishop's pomp - wearing the big mitre (hat) and carrying a bishop's staff which is an impressive piece of weaponry, and indeed over the centuries they have been used as weapons for defensive purposes at times. Why he felt the need to arm himself for his first meeting with his gentle parishioners of Watsons Bay though is a bit strange. One of the elders of the parish felt that it showed a lack of an everyday knockabout humility. Sydneysiders might see residents of Watsons Bay multimillion dollar houses as upper class but show off a sense of self-importance and they'll write you off.

This old bloke grew up in this church, been going there all his life but he hasn't been back since except for funerals and weddings. He goes off to other catholic churches instead. Lately he started to think the young bishop might have some ability when he saw that he was the coordinator of the World Youth Day. Maybe he should give him another go. Then he heard Bishop Fisher's comment that some victims (and families) were "crankily dwelling... on old wounds" (six months after the last suicide by a victim). That was too much for my old mate. He knows Fisher was most likely saying what Cardinal Pell thought but that's also the problem.

If the Catholic Church is losing the trust of its oldest stalwarts then it's in trouble.

Many people apparently feel that I’m a bit arrogant but I have listened to recent criticism and I would like to respond in a spirit of cleansing. Firstly I do admit that sexual abuse by catholic clergy has been a serious problem that has hurt many thousands of people and has rocked the church, exacerbated by church leaders denying and covering up thousands of offences.

Getting to the point, I don’t want to mention names but there are two letters sent by me to two victims of a priest under my ‘jurisdiction’. In one of the letters I make two false statements but I believe I did not intend to lie. I was trying to simplify and avoid saying too much but in hindsight even that was a sin of omission. I apologise for that.

As you, and even I, cannot see into my heart I must admit that the two false statements in my letter were my responsibility and mean that on the evidence it would appear that I lied. I would be insulting your intelligence and undermining honest debate about the church to say otherwise. I do not want to be one of those church leaders who has denied and covered up offences and stifled honest debate in and out of the church as many have for hundreds of years.

Today we are caught in ten word sound bites. The truth is more complex than that but it is also crucial that we seek the truth with our whole heart. I apologise for those two false statements in my letter and hope God will forgive me.

From George Pell (we hope)

Regular readers of 100 Words may have noticed that I defend “belief”, partially because almost every scientist and rationalist and atheist fails to notice how much “belief” they rely on. I also focus on honesty and integrity (or trust). On the first day of World Youth Day in Sydney in a sermon to the world’s young catholics Cardinal George Pell focused on the importance of “trust”. Shameless audacity! Self-serving! Only last week the public saw that this man cannot be trusted.

Trust should be built on something substantial not on a slim possibility. The evidence in his own letters shows a cover up of the truth about sexual abuse by one of his priests. His letters include false statements. He admits the evidence but claims it was a mistake of poor wording (can we trust his writing ability) and that he did not intend to lie. A small possibility, but if he wanted now to be fully honest (and rebuild trust) he would admit that on the evidence it clearly appears that he was lying and covering up. But he doesn’t, he shrugs off the greater likelihood, as if it’s unthinkable and asserts it was without question a mistake. False logic – there is a question, it is thinkable. Trust needs to be built on more than self-serving denial and slim possibilities.