Church Failed to Tell of Paedophile Priest

By Tom Allard
The Age
July 4, 2012

http://www.theage.com.au/national/church-failed-to-tell-of-paedophile-priest-20120703-21fj6.html

Three of Australia's most senior Catholic clergy failed to tell authorities of evidence they received.

THREE of Australia's most senior Catholic clergy failed to tell authorities of evidence they received that a priest had repeatedly sexually abused boys as young as 10 in New South Wales. Two of the victims committed suicide.

The three priests are Brian Lucas, secretary-general of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference; John Usher, the former head of the Australian Catholic Social Welfare Commission; and Wayne Peters, the vicar-general of the Armidale diocese in NSW.

The priest, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told a court in 2004 he admitted to the three during a 1992 meeting that he had sexually molested boys.

The scandal has also ensnared Archbishop of Sydney George Pell, who has spoken in defence of the three men, apparently unaware that there was extensive documentation backing the assertion that the alleged paedophile priest outlined his conduct to them.

Dubbed Father F, the accused paedophile priest was first accused of sexually abusing young boys in the early 1980s in Moree, ABC's Four Corners reported.

Arrested in 1987, he was brought to trial, but the matter was dismissed by a magistrate before it went to a jury because he judged the alleged victim, Damian Jurd, 15, as a witness whose credibility could not match that of the priest.

Father F was allowed to continue to serve as a priest in Parramatta, where he allegedly molested more altar boys.

The continued reports of sexual assaults at Parramatta prompted a meeting between Father F and three senior priests at St Mary's Cathedral in 1992.

Cardinal Pell told the ABC that Father F made no admissions to the priests. But the archbishop's assurances were called into question after Four Corners revealed the priest had admitted under oath in a court case in 2004 that he had, in fact, told the priests he had engaged in oral sex with young boys.

Asked about the contradiction, Cardinal Pell said: "I would take the word of the three priests against that allegation."

More damning still is a letter Father Peters wrote to Bishop Kevin Manning of Armidale just eight days after the 1992 meeting, which describes what the priests talked about.

"He admitted there had been five boys around the age of 10 and 11 that he had sexually interfered with in varying degrees in the years approximately 1982 to 1984," Father Peters wrote.

The saga has intensified calls for a royal commission. Patrick Parkinson, a University of Sydney professor of law who has advised the church on sexual abuse cases, said: "We need a royal commission with subpoena powers. The files of the Catholic Church must be opened up."