Priest Move Disrespectful, NEWS.com.au, May 15, 2011

Priest Move "Disrespectful"

NEWS.com.au
May 15, 2011

http://m.news.com.au/SA/fi732664.htm

A PRIEST at the centre of serious sexual misconduct allegations has been allowed to resume ministry.

The resumption has outraged the three complainants in the case.

The trio has demanded to know why Catholic Archbishop Philip Wilson has allowed Father John Fleming, who last Sunday conducted the service at St Xavier's Cathedral, to resume work while an Anglican Professional Standards Office inquiry into his conduct while he was an Anglican priest is still under way.

Archbishop Wilson's office has refused to comment on the move, other than to state he "is in Ministry as a priest of the Archdiocese" - a move labelled by the complainants as "totally insensitive and out of touch with community standards".

In February, the Anglican church inquiry into allegations of serious misconduct against Father Fleming, involving three separate incidents which occurred before him joining the Catholic church, was put on hold until a defamation case he has launched against the Sunday Mail is finalised.

Father Fleming launched the defamation action complaining a series of articles defamed him and that they were "a material cause" in the termination of his employment as president of Campion College in Sydney in April, 2009.

The stories sparked an investigation by the Adelaide diocese of the Catholic Church into its handling of the allegations, which subsequently found there were shortcomings in its processes, and the inquiry by the Anglican Professional Standards Office.

In February, the office advised the three complainants, Jane, Jenny and Richard, the inquiry had been put on hold.

Jane and Richard were told their cases would be put to the the Professional Standards Board after the defamation case, while Jenny was advised her case would not be put before the Board because the Professional Standards Committee "believed it would not be possible to prove the allegations to the level required by law"....

"The situation is similar to that faced by the police when they decided not to prosecute Rev'd (sic) Fleming because they did not believe they had sufficient evidence," Jenny was advised in a letter from Professional Standards Director Peter Caporaso.

Registrar of the Adelaide diocese of the Anglican Church, Keith Stephens, said if the situation were reversed and one of its priests was under investigation for similar allegations, the Archbishop would seek a recommendation from the Professional Standards Committee.

"The Professional Standards Committee would be hard pressed to recommend the Archbishop provide a licence if there were matters in another diocese that were under investigation," he said.

The three complainants reacted angrily after learning of the development, with Richard stating the decision was "in the very opposite of model Christian behaviour".

"In any other organisation, where an employee's conduct is under investigation for alleged serious professional misconduct, it is common practice for the employee to stand down from his or her employment, until the matter is determined," he said.

"The same should happen here."

"By Archbishop Wilson allowing this to occur in the very city in which the alleged behaviour has taken place and in a very prominent Cathedral, he is not only thumbing his nose at victims, he is rubbing our noses in it and saying to us: The Church and I do not care about you and, more than that, we are going to pursue you and revictimise you."

Jane said she was "sickened by the latest display of appalling disrespect of due process and to abuse victims".

"My life was irreparably damaged by this man," she said.

"In any other profession, he would be stood down, out of the public eye, until the matter was settled. It seems that there are different rules for Catholic priests."

Jenny said the Catholic Church leaders were "behind the times and put a priest before the vulnerable". - Nigel Hunt