Church Cover-Up Exposed by Chance Internet Search
Sydney Morning Herald
WHEN Sydney journalist Geraldine Willesee sat down to practise internet searches on a rainy afternoon she never thought she would expose the priest who molested her and the following 49-year cover-up by the Catholic Church. But those few clicks on the internet would eventually lead to the suspension of Father Brian Gerard Harris and expose files likely to be highly pertinent to the impending royal commission into child abuse. Willesee was a naive 14-year-old girl in Osborne Park in Perth when Fr Harris began to groom her. The daughter of prominent Labor Senator Don Willesee, she endured a difficult time during her schooling, prompting the priest to single her out. Advertisement Trips in his car led to attempts to kiss her and then later he would lie on top of her clothed. Once, another priest, Fr Cyril Stinson, caught her with Fr Harris in the presbytery in Perth. That year she left the school and moved to secretarial college, escaping Fr Harris. At college she met another Harris victim. Willesee decided to report her experiences with Fr Harris to local father Jim O'Brien, who promised to alert the then Bishop Redmond Prendiville. At the time Willesee says she did not dwell on the experience, especially after hearing Fr Harris had been moved. ''I assumed that he had been punished and in that era 14-year-old kids did not go to the police about adults,'' the 63-year-old freelancer said. That was until that rainy afternoon in 2010, when she clicked on an online article in a Perth newspaper and found herself staring at a photo of the still employed Fr Harris, who had just been awarded a papal medal for his ''apostolic work for the church''. ''I was stunned and I decided he wasn't going to get away with it any more,'' she said. Willesee contacted the then Archbishop Barry Hickey, who acted swiftly. Within 24 hours Fr Harris was stood down from any priestly duties. She says she was led to believe that there were no complaints in church records about Fr Harris, but after some weeks the church confirmed the discovery of a letter by Fr Stinson - the priest who had caught Fr Harris with Willesee back in the 1960s. Fr Harris died in May last year and official tributes were posted about him, much to Willesee's disgust. It was also last year that she discovered a close relative had also been abused in church care. She had her lawyers contact Perth Archbishop Tim Costelloe and ask for a copy of the complaint letter. The request was denied. Weeks passed and the government announced the Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Abuse. Willesee noted the church would be required to hand over confidential files. She again had lawyers contact Archbishop Costelloe and this time the letter was released. It made for disturbing reading. While many of those named were dead, such as Fr O'Brien, Fr Stinson and Archbishop Prendiville, the document was censored. But it was possible to glean much of the detail of Fr Stinson's complaint and the revelation Fr Harris had confessed. On Friday Archbishop Costelloe said he would be conducting a full audit of the ''clergy files'' to ensure there were no other unresolved complaints as a result of Willesee's situation. He said the church had not reported Fr Harris to police because it believed it was the victim's decision. ''We encourage anyone who reports abuse to go immediately to the police,'' he said. Archbishop Costelloe said he had found out about the complaints only after the death of Fr Harris last year. He said he would ask lawyers to hand over an uncensored letter to Willesee. Meanwhile, Willesee intends to put in a detailed submission to the royal commission. Despite the abuse occurring nearly 50 years ago, she still battles with severe emotional distress. She notes that Fr Stinson's letter of complaint contained a strange postscript. ''P.S. Fr Harris assured me that there had been no intercourse in this affair,'' he wrote. Says Willesee: ''There was no intercourse, just degradation.''
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