By Tess Livingstone
The Australian
September 11, 2011
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/no-delay-on-church-abuse-probe/story-e6frg6nf-1226134310078
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| Archbishop Philip Wilson at St Francis Xavier church in Adelaide. Picture: David Mariuz Source: The Australian |
THE Catholic Church in Adelaide has denied its investigations into allegations made by Traditional Anglican Communion leader John Hepworth of rape and other abuse have been delayed.
A statement released yesterday afternoon by a church spokeswoman said an investigation had been "on foot since 2007" when the leader of the 400,000-member breakaway Anglican communion first notified the diocese of the matters.
"At the specific request of Archbishop Hepworth, the church took no steps to progress the matter until he decided he was ready to formalise his complaints," it said.
"That decision was only made by Archbishop Hepworth in February 2011 and ever since that time the matter has progressed in an orderly way.
"If there has been any delay, therefore, it is because Archbishop Hepworth specifically chose not to deal with the matter until then."
Archbishop Hepworth alleges he was abused by three priests, Ronald Pickering and John Stockdale, who have both since died, and a third who runs a parish in South Australia.
The archdiocese of Melbourne's independent commissioner, Peter O'Callaghan QC, processed and resolved Archbishop Hepworth's complaint against Pickering and paid him $75,000 for the abuse he had suffered.
The abuse by Stockdale allegedly occurred when Archbishop Hepworth joined the seminary in 1960. The abuse by Pickering allegedly occurred in the early 1960s when Archbishop Hepworth was still a student priest.
The third case is alleged to have occurred after Archbishop Hepworth was ordained.
Yesterday's statement was released a few hours after The Australian spoke to Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson after mass at St Francis Xavier Cathedral.
"I am unable to comment on this matter at present," he said.
The statement also announced that Adelaide barrister Michael Abbott QC had been retained "a few months ago" to examine the evidence once it had been collated and that the investigation was "in its closing stages".
It said that the serving priest at the centre of the allegations "has categorically denied the allegations and . . . all of the issues need to be examined carefully".
The priest told worshippers gathered for Sunday mass that the key to being a good Catholic was the ability to forgive others.
He later told The Australian that he thought it was acceptable that he was allowed to continue saying mass at the parish while
the investigation was under way.
Archbishop Hepworth also celebrated mass and preached on forgiveness, receiving a standing ovation from his congregation at Enfield in Adelaide, including his three children.
He said later it was "news
to him" that Mr Abbott had been appointed to review the evidence.
"I have been given no information, written or verbal, about him or the process," he added.
Archbishop Hepworth said it was "ludicrous" of the spokeswoman to claim he had not formalised his complaint until this year.
"My letters and statements of 2008, of a dozen pages or more, which I understood to be a complaint and which the archdiocese of Melbourne understood to be a complaint and acted on, have not been acknowledged by the archdiocese of Adelaide," he said.
"On November 22, 2008, I requested, in writing, Archbishop Wilson to take my case for reconciliation with the Catholic Church to the Holy See."
Broken Rites, the Melbourne-based victim support group, yesterday released the lengthy abuse histories of Pickering and Stockdale.
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