In which prattling Polonius defends the right of any man to wear a good-looking frock ...

Talk about bunging on a do while the pond was in a world far, far away, indulging in Gippsland bliss ...

The pond was drawn to this Xmas visual feast by a correspondent, who made some surly, ill-tempered and provocative remarks about the noble Pellists ...

On the morn of the 25th I happened upon our religionist Auntie's live two and a half hours of papal mass. WTF? Anyway, standing there dutifully doing his thing, showing the assembled throng just how lovely a big fella wearing a dress and other accoutrements of a Sumerian fishgod priest may look, radiating health, and ably poncing around for the lengthy promenades about the basilica at that time in the Roman wee small hours was Pell. No, he didn't wake in hospital or in his splendid mansion to watch the video link from his sick bed, dipping in and out of a weary sleep. No, he showed 'em how the show must go on. What a trooper. What a miraculous cure the old stager Pell's had in the preceding week! 

http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/christmas-mass/ZW0626A001S00 http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/christmas-mass/ZW0626A001S00#playing

Deplorable, shocking stuff, but naturally the pond went looking for the Pellists, only to be distracted by a bit of hanky action ...

Oh wait, there he is, without the hanky blocking the view ...

What a splendid-looking frock. In days of yore, on a meditative Sunday, the pond always liked to remark on the impeccable Pellist taste for a good-looking frock ...

Oh he does so love his frocks, and doesn't he look spiffing and grand ...

But enough of the wondrous fripperies of office, guaranteed to avoid the dangers of purgatory, or - shudder - hell (though haven't the theologians already fixed purgatory?) - because the wretched satirical thrusts of that pond reader urgently needed a corrective, a purgative, or perhaps a laxative.

And who better to deliver one this meditative Sunday than the pond's very own prattling Polonius, or Hendo the fearless, as he's known to his dog ... as dab a laxative as any doing the rounds ...

Now when Polonius is disturbed, it's a sure sign that wicked progressives are lurking somewhere in the arras, and so dear brethren, let us turn to the text of the day, and to the splendid set of homilies delivered unto us by the prattler, thanks be unto the lizards of Oz ...

But first we need to start with a large picture of the grandee in question, so that we might all indulge in a little more worshipful admiration ...

Well it's not quite the grand frocks of yore, or even the frock this Xmas in Rome, and the poor old man does indeed look fragile, and anxious and worried, and yes, oppressed, driven down by the wicked secularists and evil progressives ...

What a carefully curated snap. None of that sheeny gold, palms uplifted, standing in style nonsense on view in Rome!

Sheesh, can we now get to the prattling Polonius point, allowing for a due amount of circumlocutions and rhetorical humbug?

Ah, that's better. How the pond has missed its meditative Sundays this festive season.

And isn't it good to drag in long suffering fundamentalist Hindus and Islamics so that they can stand shoulder to shoulder with their fundamentalist Catholic brethren when it comes to drumming up some fear of teh gays?

Sadly, after that foray into shared fundiness, the pond could sense a nicely building sense of paranoid persecution about the suffering of the Pellists ...

Of course, of course. The heart condition! As if it could or would or should stop attendance at a decent Roman Xmas do ...

Of course, it may well be that Polonius is barking mad, and it by focusing on the conservative Pell, the royal commission has a secondary agenda - to demonstrated that Polonius is barking mad, or at least has a remarkably silly and paranoid theologically conservative mindset, capable of spotting all kinds of rats lurking in the arras ...

Oh wait, the pond might be accused at this point of pandering to the cynical readership that set this pond hare running, thanks to his religionist aunt.

So, dear brethren, let us get back to the text of the day, the full missal, the good oil, the juice, as Polonius teases out the depths of this truly remarkable conspiracy which will alter worldwide the theology of the Catholic church ...

Of course cynics might suggest that the lack of balance in prattling Polonius's paranoid diatribe reflects the way Polonius is more concerned to salvage and redeem Pell's brand of conservatism than he is about the disturbing examples of child sexual abuse rife in the church, followed by shameful cover-ups and a lack of remorse, perhaps best exemplified by the cheek of Father Walshe turning up to offer evidence in favour of Pell ...

And there's the reason old Polonius is squawking and why Pell turned from this ...

"I want to make it absolutely clear that I am willing to give evidence should the commission request this, be it by statement, appearance by video link, or by attending personally." 
Ballarat was one of the most horrific sites of child abuse in Australia. 
Abuse victims have called on Cardinal Pell to give evidence to the inquiry to answer questions about the Catholic Church's response to the abuse. 
"So far I have not been asked to give evidence in any form, but as I have said repeatedly, I am deeply committed to assisting the royal commission and to doing anything I can to help survivors," Cardinal Pell said in the statement. 
"This includes giving evidence in person, if asked to do so." (ABC, here)

... to staying in Rome and attending the slap up Xmas mass do, rather than answering questions about this ...

Mr Roach told the ABC he left the seminary in 1983. When he returned two years later, he had a meeting with the new rector, Cardinal Pell. 
"In the course of the interview, he asked me why did I leave in the first place and I told him one of the principal reasons I left in the first place was that I had been abused by a priest," Mr Roach said. "He said, 'I have got to ask you this, can you name the priest?' and I said 'sure, he is Father John Walshe', and he went, 'OK'." 
The ABC reported Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart apologised to Mr Roach in 2012 for the "wrongs and hurt" he suffered at the hands of Father Walshe. 
Mr Roach was offered the maximum compensation payment allowed under the church's complaints process. 
However, Father Walshe was allowed to continue running the Mentone-Parkdale parish. 
The ABC reported the lawyer appointed by the church to investigate the case, Peter O'Callaghan QC, wrote in his final report "there is no doubt that sexual abuse occurred". 
He said this was because "a reasonable inference to be drawn is that J [the priest] had a degree of influence and control over the Seminarian". 
Mr O'Callaghan defined sexual abuse as: "conduct of a sexual nature that is inconsistent with the public vows, integrity of the ministerial relationship, duties or professional responsibilities of church personnel."  (Fairfax here, with forced video).

You can find the ABC report here, but the pond just wanted to give the fiends at Fairfax and the ABC a share of the links ... and so draw attention to the interesting question the pond would love to see answered.

There was a 70 grand settlement in that matter, and even amongst chums, 70k is more than a sneeze or a hiccup. And yet, after that 70k payout, and Pell being specifically told of a clear case of sexual abuse having occurred, Walshe was allowed to keep running a parish, and even had the cheek to turn up to the Royal Commission as a character and evidentiary witness speaking in favour of Pell ...

And all prattling Polonius wants in return is a victim of pedophile priests blackened as a convicted pedophile for replicating that which was done to him by the church ...

Well it's a funny old world, but that closing line about risking to breach the line between church and state is surely the funniest line of all - at least in this funny old world of government-funded chaplains and government funding of church schools and government funding of tax-exempt church charities and employment agencies and all sorts of other folderol ...

When in doubt, become a fierce advocate of giving unto Caesar what is Caesar's, but make sure you tithe it handsomely along the way ... or perhaps offer a secular stately 70k to keep church matters out of sight ...

And meanwhile keep the hypocrisy and the indignation and the smokescreen of blaming the progressives cranked up to full throttle ...

After all, it might well be that the progressives were directly responsible for sundry clergy doing an Uncle Ernie with the children ... (Fiddling About).

Never mind, we just have time for one more frock,  and what a splendid one it is ...