By Sarah Martin
Herald Sun
September 13, 2011
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/act-on-claims-or-ill-go-public-xenophon/story-fn7x8me2-1226136037066
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| Archbishop John Hepworth at the old St Francis Xavier Seminary, Magill SA. Picture: James Elsby The Australian |
THE Catholic Church is "shocked and dismayed" that Nick Xenophon plans to name and shame a priest accused of sexually abusing Adelaide-based clergyman John Hepworth.
The South Australian senator has indicated he will name the priest in the Senate tonight unless the church, which refused his ultimatum to stand down the priest by midday "sees sense" in the next few hours.
"If this priest is named tonight in the Senate, the Catholic Church in South Australia will only have itself to blame," Senator Xenophon told reporters in Canberra.
Archbishop Hepworth has revealed he was the victim of violent rapes at the hands of three priests, beginning in 1960 when he was a 15-year-old boy studying to be a priest.
Senator Xenophon said the Adelaide diocese had taken too long to satisfactorily resolve the serious allegations first aired four years ago.
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The Adelaide Archdiocese said it was dismayed that Senator Xenophon planned to name the still serving SA priest with an investigation ongoing and the priest denying the claims.
"We are shocked and dismayed that Senator Xenophon has ignored our pleadings - and our offer of a full briefing - and proposes to release the name of the priest he referred to in parliament last night," it said in a statement.
"The senator has been made aware in a letter sent to him today of the many complex and highly sensitive issues regarding this matter but, it seems, has chosen to proceed regardless.
"Our legal advice was, and still is, that any decision to suspend the priest concerned would be unjustifiable as a matter of canon and civil law."
Archbishop Hepworth, 67, has reportedly said he would rather the priest be stood down than named.
Senator Xenophon rejected the Catholic Archdiocese's claim that it was proceeding carefully with the investigation on the wishes of Archbishop Hepworth.
"That's not the case - what John tells me is quiet different," he said.
"This man can be stood down administratively pending an investigation,'' he said.
"The Catholic Church in SA has itself to blame if this course continues.
"They know the urgency of this, they know what my timeline is.
"I am not resiling from my position.'
“I'm hoping that they will see sense in the next few hours. It's something I don't want to do. I'm reluctant to do so.
"But really this is matter where the Catholic Church of SA bears I believe considerable responsibility.''
In a letter to Senator Xenophon today, lawyers for the Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide said it had "thought long and hard" about standing down the priest but the decision "could not be supported as a matter of law".
Senator Xenophon yesterday threatened to name the priest - accused by well-known clergyman John Hepworth of sexually abusing him more than 50 years ago - under parliamentary privilege if he was not stood down by noon today.
Explaining its decision, the archdiocese said it was acting on legal advice and noted the accused had been a priest of good standing in the decades since the alleged offence.
"Our client has thought long and hard about that issue and it concluded, after due consideration of the requirements of Canon law, and the law concerning procedural fairness, that the decision to stand the priest down was not able to (be) supported as a matter of law," the letter says.
"This was a decision taken on legal advice.
"You may be aware that the allegations made by Archbishop Hepworth relate to a period dating back almost 50 years.
"The priest concerned has categorically denied the allegations and, objectively speaking, it is not irrelevant that he has been a priest of good standing in the archdiocese for almost 50 years."
The archdiocese, through its lawyers, asked Senator Xenophon to "desist from carrying out your threat to name the priest concerned."
It also asked the senator to make no further comment on the matter.
However, the archdiocese offered to give the senator a detailed and personal briefing on the issue with the consent of those involved including Archbishop Hepworth.
"We will undertake to obtain such consent, but pending that, we are hopeful that you will see the harm and damage which potentially could flow from the conduct you suggested in the Senate last evening."
The letter said leaders in the Catholic Church told Archbishop Hepworth to go to police with allegations he was raped as a young man by the priest.
"From the beginning Archbishop Hepworth has been urged to report these matters to police," it says.
Senator Xenophon told Parliament last night he would name the priest if the church did not stand him down by noon today.
The church also claims that Archbishop Hepworth had requested "complete confidence over these matters" and it was surprised they were publicly raised.
The church says it made clear to Archbishop Hepworth all of the options for the investigation of the allegations, and it obtained psychological counselling for him.
"He had expressed his gratitude on more than one occasion for the sensitivity with which this matter has been handled," the letter says.
Senator Xenophon will speak to media later today.
Archbishop Hepworth revealed at the weekend 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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