Unfortunately, the way things are, you can't talk these days with a senior member of the Catholic Church without discussing problems. The most prominent one to me is the never-ending stream of emerging reports of sexual misdemeanors by Catholic priests perpetrated in the past on minors. We have dealt with most of the backlog. I believe we have good processes in place to, first, pick up trouble, second, to provide compensation for victims, and third, we're continuing to provide ongoing counselling for those victims. I think we've got a disproportionate amount of publicity, but I can understand that.
People expect high standards from the church.
But we are serious in our attempt to eliminate, contain and redress any wrongs of the past. I asked why he was a believer. Well, my father was not a Catholic. But my mother had a very strong faith. And my school, which was St Pat's in Ballarat, had a lively tradition of faith.