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	Act on Claims or I'll Go Public: Xenophon By Sarah Martin The Telegraph September 13, 2011 http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/act-on-claims-or-ill-go-public-xenophon/story-e6freuzr-1226135378678 AN ADELAIDE Catholic priest at the centre of a sexual abuse scandal will be named in the federal Senate tonight unless the Diocese stands him down. Independent Senator Nick Xenophon last night threatened to name the priest who heads an Adelaide parish and who was reported to the Church four years ago as one of three men allegedly responsible for repeated sexual abuse of a young seminarian. Archbishop John Hepworth has revealed that in 2007 he told the Adelaide Archdiocese, including Archbishop Philip Wilson and Vicar General and outgoing Social Inclusion Commissioner David Cappo, of repeated abuse at the hands of three men, two of whom are deceased. "Mr Hepworth told these men he was repeatedly raped at various times over a 12-year period, beginning when he was 15," Senator Xenophon said last night. "But despite being told of the abuse in 2007, and receiving a detailed six-page statement in March 2008, David Cappo told John Hepworth this year that the investigation was still at, quote, `a preliminary stage'. "It is clear that the seemingly low priority the Catholic Church in South Australia has given to this matter has caused great distress to John Hepworth." Senator Xenophon said the members of the suburban Adelaide parish had a right to be protected from the priest pending a formal investigation into the matter. "There are parents sending their children to church unaware that their priest in their parish has been named as an abuser, a rapist," Senator Xenophon said. "I am calling for the Catholic Church in SA to immediately stand down this third priest from all his duties, until these allegations are fully investigated." Senator Xenophon also called on the Federal Government to launch a formal inquiry into Monsignor Cappo's handling of Archbishop Hepworth's sexual assault complaint before appointing him to the Mental Health Taskforce. "David Cappo and the Catholic Church should have acted years ago," he said. On Sunday, the Adelaide Archdiocese said it had not delayed an investigation into Archbishop Hepworth's claims, but had been waiting for him to formalise his complaints.
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