Cover-Up: the Priest, the Archbishop and a Hurt 14-Year-Old Girl
Canberra Times
The anguish in the letter, written in 1963, can still be felt across the years. It is from the late Perth parish priest Cyril Stinson to his then Archbishop, Redmond Prendiville. In it Stinson pleads with the archbishop to deal with his curate who he warns could ''go to prison'' for his dealings with a minor. I was the minor. This ''smoking gun'' document, hidden for 50 years, has been released by the Catholic Archbishop of Perth thanks to the royal commission into religious child sex abuse, which requires the handing over of ''confidential'' documents by the church. Current and previous Perth archbishops had refused to release the document which reveals the activities of a known paedophile priest - Brian Harris, who died last May. Tim Costelloe, the current archbishop, and Barry Hickey, former archbishop praised him in a glowing obituary. Advertisement In 2010 I came across a picture of Harris in a Catholic newspaper. He was still working and had just been awarded a papal medal for his ''apostolic work''. The glorification and protection of a man who did bad things to children shows the Catholic Church still protects its bad guys. The letter written by Stinson provides an insider's view of the desperate efforts of a handful of priests to have action taken against Harris. When the archbishop stonewalled, the paedophile priest was moved to the next parish then left free to roam for almost 50 years. Starting with Prendiville, there have now been five consecutive archbishops of Perth who have had charge of this information. Though Archbishop Costelloe was forced to release the letter, he did so only after it was heavily redacted. It begins: ''Your Lordship, It is with deep regret that I feel it my duty to submit the following report concerning my curate, Father Brian Harris.'' The next paragraph is blacked out as are many names of other priests. Stinson then describes a day when he returned to his Perth presbytery early. ''I noticed Fr Harris's car was in the backyard. The whole house was locked … By the time I unlocked the front door Fr Harris was running into the front room from his own quarters. He was dressed in his shirt and slacks and sox. ''I went to my own room for a while … then went down to Fr's to question him about a funeral … ''Father was now fully dressed. To my amazement also in the room was a young girl in … [school] uniform. I recognised the girl as Geraldine Willessee (sic) … daughter of Senator Don Willessee (sic).'' Stinson decides not to say anything in front of the girl, and Harris drives her home. ''He came back shortly afterwards, bright and breezy, and made no reference to the incident. I mentioned the matter to BLACKED OUT and to Fr O'Brien and both of them were appalled at his stupidity … '' ''Fr O'Brien was insistent that I should question Fr further … [a week later I] did challenge him. He was very abusive and insolent, claimed that I always treated him with suspicion … claimed that a nun, Mother BLACKED OUT … had rung him and asked him to try and help this girl who had many problems. ''I told him … I thought I would have to report the matter. He told me to go right ahead, that he had nothing to fear and he would have his story to tell.'' [This may have been a reference to Stinson's drinking habits.] ''I gave the matter an awful lot of thought and prayer that night and decided to accept his explanation.'' Father Stinson decides to join Harris at a youth Mass the next day and say a few words asking the youth to co-operate with Fr Harris and asking the parents to be grateful to him and to help him in his efforts. ''Fr thanked me. As I found out later he then saw the girl again that day and the following day. ''Fr O'Brien rang me … the following day, Monday … I told him I had decided … to put the whole thing down to irresponsibility and lack of commonsense … I would point out to Fr Harris his stupidity and appeal to him to try and grow up.'' At this point, a whiff of ''Blame the Godless, Bad Girl'' emerges. I was 14. It continues: ''Fr O'Brien then told me the matter must be taken further, that he had information I didn't from the girl herself and he was going to confront Fr Harris. Fr O'Brien told me the girl had been expelled from Lesmurdie [a boarding school] … ''Senator Willessee (sic) had been in touch with Fr O'Brien and had asked him to try and straighten the girl out … The girl told Fr O'Brien she was involved with an older man … she did not tell Fr who the person was. ''Fr O'Brien confronted Fr Harris. Fr Harris thought the girl had named him and admitted it was all true. Fr O'Brien came that night and told me the story. Fr Harris approached me next morning, admitted it was all true and asked if I would give him another chance. ''I pointed out that he had had many chances … [and] that he could go to jail for interfering with minors. ''I had a long discussion with Fr BLACKED OUT who was most definite that Fr Harris should go away for several weeks.'' Stinson and another priest, Father Nolan, did a deal with Harris: go into seclusion for two weeks then put himself in Nolan's hands. ''On Monday last I inquired from Fr Nolan as to progress only to be told that Fr Harris had not been back near him.'' There is a PS: ''Fr Harris assured me that there had been no intercourse.'' That is true. There was no intercourse, just degradation.
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