Friday 29th of March 2024

old relics .....

old relics .....

from Crikey ….. 

Cardinal Pell throws thank you bash for Howard 

Alex Mitchell writes: 

Cardinal George Pell, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, held a "thank you" dinner for former Prime Minister John Howard at his official residence at Cathedral House last night. 

The guest list for the private dinner has been declared confidential but the CEO of World Youth Day, Roy Wakelin-King, was believed to be in attendance. 

Of greater interest is whether former political allies, such as Tony (The Mad Monk) Abbott and Tony Clark AM, former Howard appointee to the board of Tourism Australia and Telstra, joined the knees-up at the St Mary's Cathedral precinct in College Street. 

Anxious to demonstrate that the cardinal is an even-handed fellow, a church official told Crikey that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd would be "dropping in for a chat" today after attending HMAS Sydney commemorations. 

The close friendship between the hardline conservative Catholic Pell and the arid Methodist Howard was forged in ideological agreement over many years. 

Both are devout believers in authority and hierarchy. They share a steely understanding of patronage as a device for creating loyalty among the courtiers, sometimes called the conga line. 

When Howard spoke at last year’s 50th anniversary dinner for the grumpy old men’s fanzine, Quadrant, Pell, a regular contributor, was in the audience clapping enthusiastically. 

Ballarat-born Pell, 66, whose episcopal motto is "Be Not Afraid", has much to thank Howard for.

When he needed political muscle to reinforce the Vatican’s medieval teachings on abortion and stem cell research, he turned to Howard and was rewarded. When he took the begging bowl to Canberra for World Youth Day which will be staged in Sydney in July -- along with a visit by Pope Benedict XVI -- Pell received $35 million plus a contribution towards the $42 million compensation package to the Australian Jockey Club for the use of Randwick Racecourse for a papal mass. 

But Pell’s chief reason for thanking Howard is the billions of dollars his government gave to Catholic schools with few strings attached. Fuelled by Howard’s largesse and state school funding cuts, Catholic and other religious schools streaked ahead, cherrypicking teachers from the public sector by offering better wages and funding lavish sports facilities. 

On the eve of the 2004 federal election Howard personally announced a $4 million gift to Pell to finance the building of a Sydney campus for the private Notre Dame University. The announcement was leaked exclusively to the Sydney Sunday papers to greet the faithful on their way to mass. 

Today’s newspapers make much of the fact that Howard did not receive a Knighthood of the Garter in the St George’s Day honors list released yesterday by Buckingham Palace. As one of Queen Elizabeth’s most loyal subjects, it was expected he might have qualified to become one of the Queen’s newest knights in a ceremony dating back 650 years. 

Perhaps attention should now turn to the possibility of a papal knighthood during the Pope’s visit. Certainly Howard’s done everything possible to earn it. 

elsewhere ….. 

The former prime minister will be the guest of honour at a gala dinner in Sydney on May 7 that has been organised by the NSW branch of the Liberal Party. 

Tickets have sold out for the event which organisers say will be about twice the size of the 500-person lunch in Brisbane last week at which Mr Howard spoke. 

Mr Howard has promised not to become a commentator on contemporary political events, but accepts he must balance this commitment with the need to give speeches at fund-raisers to help the party. 

The dinner will be in honour of Mr Howard's 33 years in federal politics, of which almost 12 were spent as prime minister. One organiser said it was hoped to have a similar functions in Melbourne and possibly in other states. 

Howard Still Pulls A Fund-Raising Crowd

a trio of war criminals...

'Charge Howard with war crimes'

FORMER Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has called for ex-prime minister John Howard and other Western leaders to be charged with war crimes over the conflict in Iraq.

In a speech in London, Dr Mahathir called for an international tribunal to try US President George Bush, former British prime minister Tony Blair and Mr Howard for their part in the conflict, said a spokesman for the Muslim Ramadhan Foundation.

Spokesman Mohammed Shafiq said Dr Mahathir, 82, wanted to see the trio tried "in absence for war crimes committed in Iraq".

"It was a opportunity for students to put a range of questions about war crimes and the international situation," he said.

"He said that people have to stop killing each other and use arbitration, negotiation and discussion as an alternative to violence, war and killing."

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Gus: in regard to the blog above this one, the Victorian Catholics I meet never stop thanking God from the bottom of their hearts that Pell was promoted away from their garden state to the Sydney pastures... They also beg our forgiveness for having nurtured him in their bosom... and thank us, northerners, for our immense tolerance.

Being a committed natural atheist, thank god, I say I had no choice in the matter.

empty blessings .....

Five days before the last federal election John Howard dipped with desperation into his grab bag of tricks and came up with $22 million of Commonwealth money for World Youth Day - the Catholic Church's proselytising and marketing extravaganza to be held in this city next month. 

Is that expenditure in breach of the constitution? The issue has hurriedly come before the High Court. It has had a couple of rounds already, and is on again this morning. 

The applicant is Carmelo Vescio, a non-practising Catholic. When he heard about this money being splashed around in an effort to woo the vote of wavering Catholics he immediately contacted the relevant minister in Canberra, Peter McGauran (Xavier College, Melbourne), to ask, "On what basis are you doing this?" 

High Court Ponders World Youth Day Largesse