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	Convicted Priest Still Serving By Kate Dennehy Brisbane Times June 22, 2008 http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/national/convicted-priest-still-serving/2008/06/21/1214009167391.html THE Australian Catholic Church has been embroiled in controversy, three weeks before the Pope makes his historic visit to Australia, over a convicted pedophile who is still serving as a priest. In defiance of the Pope, the Archdiocese of Brisbane continues to allow a convicted pedophile to remain a priest and celebrate Mass next to a school. The Sun-Herald has learnt that the priest - Ronald John McKeirnan, 69, of Toowong in Brisbane's west - enjoys the support and protection of high-ranking church officials, including Archbishop John Bathersby, despite serving a year in prison in 1999 for molesting nine boys in the 1960s and 1970s. The decision to support Mr McKeirnan conflicts with a statement by Pope Benedict XVI in April in which he said the church "would absolutely exclude pedophiles from the sacred ministry … Who is guilty of pedophilia cannot be a priest." The Pope will arrive in Australia on July 13 in the lead-up to World Youth Day celebrations in Sydney. Mr McKeirnan, a former deputy director of Brisbane Catholic Education who now works on church websites and conducts private Masses for other priests, pleaded guilty on two separate occasions to abusing children.
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