Church Sex Scandal

By Georgia Main
7 News
March 11, 2013

http://au.news.yahoo.com/today-tonight/lifestyle/article/-/15893567/church-sex-scandal/

This time a former Sydney priest has been exposed for a long-term sexual relationship with a vulnerable parishioner.

Father Tom Knowles is preaching again after sexually preying on a disabled woman.

For fourteen years Jennifer Herrick endured a secret sexual relationship with the priest. Father Knowles was the Herrick's trusted family priest at their local church in Sydney.

Herrick was a shy nineteen-year-old with bilateral congenital hip dysplasia - a condition causing her to walk with a highly abnormal gait.

"I had such low self-esteem because of the way I walked, that I kind of made allowances for him because he was a priest. The rules were the rules and I thought 'I guess he's human, he has his needs' and somehow he'd picked me. Now I know he sure did pick me," she said.

Herrick's psychological reports would later find she was being groomed.

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"He was seen to be charismatic and I suppose I thought people would think I was exaggerating," she said.

It wasn't until 2011 that Herrick had the courage to lodge a formal complaint with the church. Now aged 59, the church has apologised and paid her $100,000 in compensation.

"I believe they wanted to get rid of it as quickly as possible," she said.

Despite a church investigation finding Father Knowles's conduct to be highly inappropriate, after just sixteen months on administrative leave, he's once again preaching and running community groups at St Francis church in Melbourne - it's one of the busiest in the state with 10,000 parishioners visiting every week.

"I feel I'm abused all over again," Herrick said.

Father Knowles's presence at the church was met with mixed views from the congregation today.

Chris MacIsaac from victims advocate group Broken Rites says Father Knowles's abuse of power is the ultimate sin.

"Just like a psychiatrist, a priest should be struck off if he has breached his position," MacIsaac said.

The Knowles case has been revealed at a time that the Royal Commission is to be held into the Catholic Church and child sexual abuse. Herrick doesn't fall into that category because the abuse didn't start until she was 22.

But it reveals that it's not only children but also adult worshippers who can be targeted by priests for a sexual relationship.

"I hope these other women who are there and suffering like I've suffered will come forward and the church will start to take this side of things seriously," Herrick said.

We approached Father Knowles yesterday but he declined our request for an interview. In an email he said he was interstate and would not make any response while he was away.

In a statement the church said a review had determined that Father Knowles was unlikely to violate professional boundaries in the future and it was appropriate to return him to community life and public ministry subject to conditions and safeguards.

The decision is distressing for a victim who kept a secret for nearly two decades, withdrawing from friends and family, eventually having a breakdown and losing her career as a high school teacher.

"I just feel almost despair that I lost so much that I could have had," she said.