Church Denies It Covered up Sex Abuse

9 News
July 4, 2012

news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8493902

The Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney has rejected claims that senior priests failed to refer evidence of child sexual abuse to authorities 20 years ago, amid renewed calls for a royal commission into the scandal-plagued church.

The home diocese of the most senior Catholic clergy in Australia, Cardinal George Pell, says a former Armidale priest known only as "Father F" never made specific admissions when he met with Sydney priests Father Lucas and Monsignor Usher in 1992.

The statement is a response to claims aired by the ABC Four Corners program on Monday that Father F admitted to sexual abuse at the 1992 meeting and the Catholic Church in Australia covered up the evidence.

A third priest present at the meeting - Father Peters - wrote an account of the meeting in a private letter to the Armidale bishop, the Sydney diocese says.

"Neither Fr Lucas nor Monsignor Usher was aware of the existence and contents of Fr Peters' letter until it was raised by the 4 Corners program," the diocese said on Wednesday.

"The letter does not reflect their recollections of the meeting or notes of the meeting held by the church's Professional Standards Office."

Hours earlier, a lawyers group passed fresh allegations of sexual abuse at a south Sydney Catholic school to authorities, to add weight to calls for a royal commission into the Catholic Church's handling of sexual abuse claims.

The Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA) on Wednesday forwarded NSW police a complaint against a teacher at St Patrick's College, Sutherland, who allegedly "sexually and indecently" assaulted a former pupil between 1976 to 1977.

ALA NSW spokesman Andrew Morrison says an internal investigation into the incident by the church was aborted in 2011 before it could be handed over to police.

"This is the first [investigation] I've seen where the process was stopped part of the way through, and the inference there is to protect members of the clergy," Dr Morrison told AAP.

The ABC report that sparked it all said Father F was sacked by the church in 2005 after serious sexual abuse allegations but has since become a prominent citizen in the NSW town of Armidale.

It said Father F raped young boys in Moree in the 1980s before being transferred to a parish in Parramatta where he continued to sodomise altar boys.

The Catholic Bishop of Armidale, Michael Kennedy, said on Wednesday he would arrange for a full investigation of matters raised by the ABC and subsequent reports.

"I am in the process of appointing an independent expert to review all available records and to report back to me," he said in a statement.

Adults Surviving Child Abuse (ASCA) president Cathy Kezelman says it is time for an independent investigation.

"A royal commission is needed to identify the ways in which cover-ups have occurred and the cost of those cover-ups in human terms," Dr Kezelman said.