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	An Ex-Altar Boy Tackles the Church Re a Priest Fr Joseph Sultana Who Got Away Broken Rites November 9, 2010 http://brokenrites.alphalink.com.au/nletter/page242-joseph-sultana.html In 2010 a former altar boy in Australia (who will be referred to by Broken Rites as Mr X) launched a civil lawsuit against the Catholic Church, alleging years of abuse by a priest. And it has been reported in 2010 that another alleged victim (let us call him Mr Z) died by taking his own life. The priest, Father Joseph Emmanuel Lewis Sultana, was born in Malta and was ordained as a priest in 1962. According to church publications, he ministered in South America before turning up in Australia, where he was recruited by the Cairns Diocese in the state of Queensland. The Cairns diocese says that, about 1997-98, it "removed Father Sultana from the ministry" but the diocese is coy about the reason for this "removal". Fr Sultana then returned to his native Malta, out of the reach of Australian police. From 1998 to 2010, the Cairns Diocese presumed that the story of Father Joseph Sultana had been successfully covered up. But the launching of the former altar boy's civil action in 2010 has finally alerted the public to the Father Sultana affair. The former altar boy, Mr X (aged 38 in 2010), lodged documents at the Queensland Supreme Court, targeting two Catholic Church bodies: the Roman Catholic Trust Corporation for the Diocese of Cairns; and the Corporation of the Sisters of Mercy for the Diocese of Cairns (these nuns conducted the parish school, where the altar boy was pupil). In a sworn affidavit filed with the court, Mr X alleges that he was regularly abused while he was a student and altar boy at St Joseph's School and parish in Atherton (a country town in the Cairns diocese) by Father Joseph Sultana between March 1979 and November 1982. Broken Rites has checked the 1979 edition of the annual Australian Catholic directory and this book confirms that in 1979 Fr Joseph Sultana was listed as the assistant priest at St Joseph's parish in Atherton (working under the supervision of a senior priest, who in 2010 is in a North Queensland nursing home). Another priest was told In court documents, Mr X says that he told a prominent Cairns Diocese priest about the abuse while it was still happening in 1981 but Mr X alleges that this priest became angry with the boy (then aged eight) and accused him of lying before ordering him to visit a school nun, who gave him corporal punishment for "lying". Broken Rites has checked the 2010 edition of the annual Australian Catholic directory and this angry priest is still working in the Cairns Diocese, with senior responsibilities. This priest (who is named in the court documents) is not alleged to have been involved in the sexual abuse — merely in the cover-up. The nun who punished the boy is now deceased. Thus, it is alleged, the boy's complaint about Fr Sultana never reached the police — and the church's holy public image was protected. Shortly after this cover-up at Atherton, Father Sultana was transferred to another parish — St Teresa's at Ravenshoe (a country town in the Cairns diocese). A church publication, entitled The Years Between 1953-1985: Catholic Youth Movement, gives an example of Father Sultana's activities in Ravenshoe. It describes a visit by a youth group to Father Sultana's home at Ravenshoe in the early 1980s. The author wrote: "On Sunday, 17 March, Atherton Catholic Youth Movement had an outing to Ravenshoe. We visited Father Sultana, our previous branch chaplain before his appointment to Ravenshoe, and then went to Millstream Falls. After a swim it was back to Father Sultana's for dinner." Father Sultana continued as a serving priest in the Diocese of Cairns for at least another 15 years. In the 1988 edition of the Australian Catholic directory, Broken Rites finds him listed as the parish priest in charge of St Anthony's, Dimbulah (another country parish). He was still listed at Dimbuila in the 1997 directory. However, in a 1998 directory published by the National Council of priests, Fr Sultana was listed (with three other Cairns Diocese priests) under the heading "On Leave or Overseas". His name did not appear at all in any directories in subsequent years. This indicates that Fr Sultana had left Australia by early 1998. During his time in the Cairns diocese, Father Joe Sultana worked under three bishops. It is unclear what these bishops knew about Fr Sultana's activities: At the time of Mr X's alleged abuse in 1979-82, the head of the Cairns Diocese was Bishop John Ahern Torpie (until 1986). The next Bishop was John Alexis Bathersby (from 1986 to 1991). Father Sultana remained as a serving priest in the Cairns Diocese of Cairns for the entire duration of Bishop Bathersby's time there (Bathersby is now the archbishop of Brisbane, the most senior church leader in Queensland). The current bishop of Cairns (since 1992) is Bishop James Foley. Father Sultana was still active as a priest in the Cairns Diocese for five years while Bishop Foley was head of the Diocese. It is unknown if any written documentation about the behaviour of Father Sultana has been preserved the diocesan office or whether any such paper trial has "gone missing". In a sworn affidavit and statement to police, Mr X said he and his wife revealed the abuse to Bishop James Foley in a phone call and subsequent meeting at their family home in November 2009. Mr X says that at the end of their conversation, Bishop Foley offered him prayers and religious counselling. In a statement to the Cairns Post daily newspaper (published on 1 November 2010), Bishop Foley said that the Church "hopes to reach a satisfactory resolution of this matter" with this complainant [i.e, Mr X]. Another man took his own life According to Cairns Post articles in 2010, another man alleged in 1998 that he was abused by Father Sultana at the same school and church in the early 1980s. This man (Broken Rites will refer to him as Mr Z) took his own life at his North Queensland home in 1998 — around the time that Fr Sultana left Australia. In his statement to the Cairns Post on 1 November 2010, Bishop Foley confirmed that "the first suggestions of child sexual abuse [by Fr Joseph Sultana] were raised with me, by the original complainant [i.e., Mr Z], on 24 July, 1998, after I had already removed Joseph Sultana from ministry for other reasons." Bishop Foley's statement says that, by then, "Joseph Sultana had returned to Malta and only law enforcement authorities could compel his co-operation in any investigation of the complaint." Thus, the story of Fr Joseph Sultana was successfully buried for 12 years — until Mr X launched his civil court action in 2010. Broken Rites believes that the Catholic Church authorities have some explaining to do: What was the record of Father Sultana's early career in Malta and South American before he turned up in Australia? How and why was he recruited by the Cairns Diocese? What references did he have? What is the full story about his activities in Australia? How and why did he and the Cairns Diocese end up parting company in the late 1990s? Had there been any complaints in the Cairns diocese about Father Sultana before Mr Z came forward in 1998? Did Joseph Sultana continue in a church position after he returned to Malta? What do the Maltese church authorities know about him? Why is the Cairns diocese so keen to "reach a satisfactory resolution" with Mr X? What is the full story of Mr Z who allegedly took his own life?
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