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	Put Rein on Sex-abuse Priests, Church Told By Rafael Epstein and Nick Mckenzie The Age May 18, 2010 http://www.theage.com.au/national/put-rein-on-sexabuse-priests-church-told-20100517-v9do.html ALLOWING a priest to work at a primary school while facing child sex abuse claims is ''unthinkable'', says the law professor who twice reviewed the Australian Catholic Church's complaints process. The University of Sydney's Professor Patrick Parkinson also said the delays that victims faced were ''just not on'', and that the church should act against priests trying to slow down the complaints process. The Age yesterday revealed that Sydney priest Finian Egan twice took overseas holidays during a church inquiry into his abuse of girls in the 1980s. Melbourne priest Padraic Maye worked at St Augustine's Primary School in Yarraville in 2004 and 2005, despite police and the church being told of claims he had abused two sisters in the 1990s. While not commenting on any specific case, Professor Parkinson said it would be ''unthinkable'' to allow a priest to work at schools after he faced claims of child abuse. At the end of 2005, the church forced Father Maye to retire early and removed his ''canonical faculties'' so that he could not act publicly as a priest, the most serious church penalty apart from defrocking. A church inquiry found he groped two young sisters and in the 1970s had non-consensual sex with a ''vulnerable'' woman. Despite that, he twice performed the annual Mass for Victoria's Irish community. The church's system also failed to oust Father Egan, whose 50-year career in Sydney was celebrated in church magazines and at a public Mass despite a church inquiry finding he had groped two girls over several years in the 1980s. Most Catholic Church complaints are dealt with under the ''Towards Healing'' protocol, which has adopted most of Professor Parkinson's recommendations made in 2000 and last year. The similar ''Melbourne Response'' governs complaints received by the city's Archbishop Denis Hart. Last year he said the system had received ''no significant criticism'' and needed no review. The church is considering changes urged by police. The church said that in 2004 its independent commissioner Peter O'Callaghan, QC, did not recommend Father Maye be stood down because ''he considered there was no risk to primary school children''. Father Maye's predecessor at Yarraville's St Augustine's parish was Father Nazareno Fasciale. When he died of cancer in 1996, Father Fasciale was due in court to face sex abuse charges. Despite the church knowing of police investigations, his funeral was attended by more than 60 priests and bishops, including future archbishops George Pell and Denis Hart. Victims groups say more than 10 victims had come forward to police. Archbishop Hart has repeatedly written to Father Maye, warning him against working as a priest and saying ''any publicity will reflect adversely upon yourself [and] upon the church''. In a statement to The Age yesterday, Archbishop Hart repeated his apology to Father Maye's victims. The ABC last night reported that the Archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson, was under pressure to explain what he knew about sexual abuse when he was an office-holder in a NSW diocese in the 1970s and 1980s.
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