BishopAccountability.org
	Father Charles Alfred Barnett Ministered in Three Australian States Broken Rites September 8, 2009 http://brokenrites.alphalink.com.au/nletter/page159-barnett.html Father Charles Alfred Barnett worked as a Catholic priest in various parts of Australia for twenty years but left for Indonesia in the mid-1990s. In 2009 he is in custody in South Australia, charged with sexual offences against boys in that state. He also worked in two other Australian states — Queensland and New South Wales. In court on 8 September 2009, Barnett indicated that he intends to plead guilty to some of the South Australian charges. He was remanded in custody and is scheduled to appear in court again later in 2009. The South Australian courts can deal only with complaints about alleged incidents within that state. It is possible that police in other Australian states might also become interested in Barnett. Anyone who wishes to discuss alleged incidents in New South Wales or Queensland would need to have a chat with the police in those states. Broken Rites research Broken Rites has researched Father Charles Barnett's positions in the annual editions of the Official Directory of the Catholic Church in Australia and the Directory of Australian Catholic Clergy. Barnett is believed to be originally from Adelaide, where he was a student at the University of Adelaide. It is believed that he came originally from a non-Catholic denomination and became a convert to Catholicism as an adult. He studied for the Catholic priesthood in the Vincentian order (also called the Congregation of the Mission), which has its Australian headquarters in Sydney. In the 1970s, the Vincentian order had about 45 priests in Australia. The Vincentians had one or two communal houses in each of Australia's five mainland states. Charles Barnett was first listed in the annual Australian Catholic directory in the early 1970s, when his postal address was given as the Vincentian Community (where half a dozen Vincentian priests lived) in Eastwood, Sydney. In the early 1970s he is believed to have spent time at the "Mary Immaculate" parish in Southport on Queensland's Gold Coast (in the Brisbane archdiocese). This parish was one that was normally staffed by the Vincentian order. One family who remember Barnett from the 1970s say that they sometimes called him by his middle name as Father Alf Barnett. South Australia In the edition for 1975, Barnett was listed as a staff member of the St Francis Xavier Seminary, which was then situated at Rostrevor in Adelaide. This seminary, now closed, was administered by Vincentians. In the late 1970s, Barnett was listed as an assistant priest in a parish (St Teresa's) at Whyalla, a town in the western region of South Australia. This parish is part of the diocese of Port Pirie (the Catholic Church in South Australia is divided into two dioceses — Adelaide and Port Pirie). Barnett was still listed at Whyalla (still as an assistant) in the directories for 1981 and 1983. By 1981, the senior priest-in-charge at Whyalla was Father D. Eugene Hurley, who became the bishop of Port Pirie in 1998 (and later the Bishop of Darwin). A former pupil at St John's College high school in Whyalla (for Years 7 and 8 in 1976-77) has told Broken Rites how he used to receive "home visits" by Father Charlie Barnett. During the period of his Whyalla listings, Barnett was not necessarily confined to that town. Former students of Rostrevor College (operated by the Christian Brothers), in Woodforde, Adelaide, say they remember Father Charlie Barnett in Adelaide in the 1970s. New South Wales At some stage in the late 1970s, the Directory of Australian Catholic Clergy listed Fr Charles Barnett at St Vincent's parish, Ashfield, Sydney, although this might have been a forwarding address. Likewise, in the 1988 directory, the postal address of Rev. C. Barnett, CM, was listed in the index as care of the Vincentian Community at 5 Vincentia St, Marsfield, Sydney, but this edition gave no indication of what work he was doing or where. A resident of Bathurst, in central-west New South Wales, says that, in the 1970s and '80s, Fr Charles Barnett used to visit (and have extensive stay-overs at) Bathurst's St Stanislaus College, which was staffed by Barnett's religious order, the Vincentian Fathers. Priests lived on the school premises. Military chaplain The 1983 directory says that, as well as being listed at Whyalla, Barnett was also a chaplain to Army Reserve units. Former Royal Australian Navy apprentices say that, in the mid-1980s, they remember Father Charlie Barnett as a Navy chaplain at the Navy's apprentice training base HMAS Nirimba at Quakers Hill, near Blacktown, west of Sydney. Queensland In the early 1990s, Rev. Charles Barnett, CM, was listed at St Vincent's parish in Wandal, Rockhampton, Queensland. At that time, the Vincentian order provided staffing for this parish. In the 1994 directory, Barnett was listed as the Parish Priest in charge of the "Mary Immaculate" parish at Southport, Queensland (where had had orginally spent time as an assistant priest in the early 1970s). Indonesia In the directories for 1995 to 1997, Barnett was listed as being on leave. He was not listed in the directories for 1998 onwards. By then, he had moved to Indonesia, where he began teaching English and running a business. In Indonesia he was no longer working as a priest. At that time, Australia and Indonesia did not have a treaty for extraditing persons who were wanted by the police for alleged criminal offences. But this had changed by 2008 and Barnett became the first person to be extradited from Indonesia under a treaty with Australia. In February 2008, Australian authorities applied in Indonesia (on behalf of South Australia Police) for Barnett's extradition to Australia. The application went to an Indonesian court, which heard details of the Australian allegations. The application was granted and Barnett was arrested by Indonesian police at his house in Depok, just south of Jakarta. He was then detained in custody in Jakarta throughout 2008, pending completion of the extradition process. On Friday 13 February 2009, detectives from South Australia's Sexual Crime Investigation Branch took custody of Barnett in Jakarta and took him back to South Australia, where he was placed in custody in Adelaide in order to face a series of court proceedings during 2009 under South Australian law. The South Australian matters are being investigated by the Sexual Crime Investigation Branch, South Australia Police, 30-46 Wright Street Adelaide, South Australia 5000. In court, September 2009 Barnett, aged 68, appeared In the Adelaide Magistrates Court on 8 September 2009. His lawyer said that Barnett would plead guilty to three counts of indecent assault. The charges relate to alleged offences at Crystal Brook and Port Pirie, in South Australia's mid-north, between 1977 and 1985. The lawyer said Barnett would plead not guilty to six other charges of unlawful sexual intercourse and indecent assault at Port Pirie, Crystal Brook, Whyalla and Blackfriars between 1981 and 1994. The magistrate remanded Barnett in custody to appear before a judge in the South Australian District Court later in 2009. Australia's ABC television news has broadcast some video footage of Barnett.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.