By Mark Metherell
Sydney Morning Herald
September 14, 2011
http://www.smh.com.au/national/former-navy-chaplain-named-in-parliament-over-rape-claims-20110913-1k81t.html
[with video]
A FORMER head Catholic chaplain of the navy, Ian Dempsey, was accused in the Senate last night of the rape of a fellow seminarian 50 years ago.
The allegation by the independent senator, Nick Xenophon, came yesterday after the Catholic Church rejected the senator's ultimatum for Monsignor Dempsey to stand down from his post as parish priest at Brighton in Adelaide or be named.
Monsignor Dempsey, 68, who was made an AO in recognition of his services to the navy's chaplaincy, has also been Catholic vicar-general to the Adelaide archdiocese.
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| Accused ... Monsignor Ian Dempsey, pictured during a funeral Mass in Adelaide. Photo: Bryan Charlton |
The archdiocese said in a statement that it was ''shocked and dismayed that Senator Xenophon has ignored our pleadings'' not to reveal the priest's identity. ''The priest concerned has categorically denied the allegation and has been a person of good standing in the archdiocese for a very long time.''
His naming last night follows allegations by a former Catholic priest who is now world leader of a breakaway Anglican sect.
Archbishop John Hepworth says the archdiocese has failed to act on allegations he made to church authorities in 2007.
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| Making accusations ... Archbishop John Hepworth. |
Senator Xenophon told the Senate last night: ''The people of the Brighton parish have the right to know that for four years allegations have been outstanding that the priest, Ian Dempsey, raped John Hepworth and that church leadership has failed to make appropriate inquiries into this matter and that church leadership had failed to stand this priest down as a matter of course while inquiries take place.
''Sexual abuse flourishes because people keep secrets. For the people of south Australia this was a secret that in good conscience I did not feel I could, or should, keep.''
Senator Xenophon said he was concerned that despite having been given a detailed statement in 2008, the Adelaide Vicar-General, Monsignor David Cappo, had said this year the investigation was still at ''a preliminary stage'' because he had not lodged a formal complaint.
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| Under fire ... Monsignor David Cappo. |
Archbishop Hepworth said before the expose? that he did not want Senator Xenophon to name the priest but instead ask for Monsignor Dempsey to be stood down while the church commissioned an inquiry by a QC.
Senator Xenophon overruled Archbishop Hepworth's plea, saying; ''If this priest is named tonight in the Senate, the Catholic Church will only have itself to blame. We have to act in the interests of parents and children in the parish first and foremost.''
The SA senator has also called on the government to inquire into the role of Monsignor Cappo, recently appointed chairman of the new national Mental Health Commission.
Archbishop Hepworth, 67, is world primate of the 400,000 member Traditional Anglican Communion sect.
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