Compass – The Cardinal’s Cousin: Coming out

This is a truly remarkable documentary. It’s a story to confirm one’s belief in family. Monica’s mother’s response to hearing from her daughter about her homosexuality helps us to understand where Monica inherited her strong character. The documentary is beautifully filmed and well structured. Keeping the technique extremely simple, it effectively tells an inspiring story that illustrates how some people find ways to stand up to church doctrine when they can see that it is not very humane.

Compass – The Cardinal’s Cousin Synopsis

Monica is a lesbian and a former nun. She rose to prominence in 2004 when she published a letter she’d sent to her cousin, Cardinal George Pell, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sydney. She asked him to look her in the eye and tell her she is depraved, because this is how the Catholic Church describes all homosexuals.

Compass – The Cardinal’s Cousin Curator's Notes

This is a very powerful documentary about a courageous woman who has gone public in order to show the world the inhumanity of the Catholic church. She has a great partner, a terrific sister and lovely parents. Her cousin is Cardinal Pell and his outspoken views about homosexuals are well known. She decides to take him on and, as a result, we get to know about the life and times of a very strong woman and those who sustain her.

Notes by Janet Bell

Education notes

This clip shows Monica Hingston, a former Catholic nun, describing her mother’s reaction to her ‘coming out’ as a lesbian. While Monica felt her family would not reject her, the narrator points out that she most feared telling her mother. With some emotion, Monica relates how her mother, after initially saying ‘you don’t have to tell me’, phoned later to tell her to ‘stand tall … walk your own path … and to hell with the buggers who oppose you’. Poignant music accompanies her recollection. Monica is shown in a garden, and having dinner with her partner Peg and others.

Educational value points

• The clip reveals the anxiety that can accompany the decision by a gay or lesbian person to announce their sexuality publicly – to ‘come out’. The anxiety is often a result of fears about how friends and family, especially parents, will react, in particular fears of rejection or of disappointing or hurting family members. The emotion with which Hingston relates her mother’s affirmation is indicative of the importance of family acceptance.
• Until the 1970s and the influence of the gay liberation movement, homosexuality was often seen as shameful or immoral, and Hingston, who grew up in the 1950s, refers to being socialised to believe ‘if you are gay or lesbian … you’re not right’. Although there is now greater acceptance of gays and lesbians, a 2005 Australia Institute report, Mapping Homophobia in Australia, found that 35 per cent of people aged over 14 thought homosexuality was immoral.
• The clip shows how choice of venue, framing and music can work to enrich an interview. Hingston is interviewed wearing a red top and sitting in a garden against blue blossoms. She is positioned on the left of the frame and balanced in the shot by a reproduction of a Greek statue that embodies female beauty. Hingston’s emotional delivery is made more dramatic by a gentle, slow and lingering piano piece and the increased volume of birdsong.
• A gay or lesbian person may decide to ‘come out’ to family because they no longer want to hide this part of their personal identity, and this may be why Hingston felt she needed to ‘spell out’ her sexuality to her parents. A gay or lesbian person may also take this step to feel proud of who they are, and so that they can be themselves among family and friends in a way that heterosexual people take for granted, such as bringing their partner to family occasions.
• Compass is an ABC television program that critically examines beliefs, ethics and values and, like the episode The Cardinal’s Cousin, which focuses on the Catholic Church’s attitude to homosexuality, has presented issues that may be confronting or controversial. Through exploring people’s spiritual and ethical journeys, the program aims to reveal broader issues of community and the shared experience of being human.

Education notes provided by The Learning Federation and Education Services Australia