Abuse Leaves Legacy of Pain, Says Priest

By Dan Box
The Australian
September 14, 2012

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/abuse-leaves-legacy-of-pain-says-priest/story-e6frg6nf-1226474513932

THE Catholic priest leading his diocese's response to the effects of its own historic child sex abuse says the hurt caused continues to be felt years, and generations, after the crimes themselves.

"The church has failed," Father Geoff Mulhearn said of the crimes in NSW's Hunter region. "I can see the pain this abuse has caused."

For decades leading up to the 1990s, three priests, Vince Ryan, Jim Fletcher and Denis McAlinden, abused young boys and girls in the diocese of Maitland-Newcastle, in the Hunter Valley.

The total number of their victims may be in the hundreds, while more than one of those involved in investigating or responding to these priests' abuse describes it as "organised crime". Ryan and Fletcher were ultimately jailed. McAlinden died before charges could be brought.