Church Sex Abuse Going on a Long Time

By Jason Gordon
Newcastle Herald
July 2, 2013

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/1609877/church-sex-abuse-going-on-a-long-time/?cs=391

THE Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese allegedly knew about paedophilia within its ranks as early as 1953.

Yesterday, 60 years later, and with hundreds more children bearing the scars of sexual abuse, a public courtroom heard those claims for the first time, along with an acknowledgment from the Church that such injustice not only happened, but was allowed to perpetuate.

Some in the public gallery openly wept when Commissioner Margaret Cunneen SC and counsel assisting, Julia Lonergan SC, read their opening addresses to the packed Newcastle courtroom.

Ms Cunneen, in her opening address, described the sexual abuse of children as "abhorrent". When it is committed by a priest, it is "a gross breach of trust of the highest magnitude".

Ms Lonergan went further, saying she expected the inquiry would not only hear that paedophilia existed within the diocese, but allegations that it was covered up.

"We expect that the evidence gathered by this inquiry will show that the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese, as an institution, had extensive knowledge dating back to the 1950s of the serious risk posed to children by [former priest Denis] McAlinden," she said.

She then went on to outline three cases which she said the inquiry would hear more about as it progressed over the next three weeks.

In the first case, she said the inquiry would hear about an 11-year-old girl who was abused by Denis McAlinden. The girl, known only as AE, told her parents, as well as the then-bishop and an assistant priest about the abuse. She carried the burden of her abuse to the early 1990s when she and her husband, angered that McAlinden was still a Hunter-based priest, told their parish priest about the abuse.

In the second case, Ms Lonergan said a five-year-old boy was abused by McAlinden when aged five, with the abuse continuing for four years at Singleton. The boy, known only as ABC, used his first confession to report the abuse to his parish priest, but Ms Lonergan said the inquiry would hear that he received penance "apparently for his sin in being abused by that priest".

In the third case, Ms Lonergan said the inquiry would hear about a victim who was abused by McAlinden in the Forster area in the mid 1970s. When the victim told her mother, meetings were held between the girl's family, her school principal and other parents before a meeting with two senior clergy was arranged, and McAlinden was moved out of the area.

Ms Lonergan said the Maitland-Newcastle diocese had co-operated on every level with the inquiry, and handed over various statements and archives that have spent decades behind closed Church doors.

She said some documents showed that McAlinden made admissions to senior clergy about his behaviour. In a handwritten letter by the church's Monsignor Cotter in 1976 to Bishop Leo Clarke, the extent of the Church's knowledge was laid bare.

"Slowly, very slowly, he admitted some indiscretions but then agreed that it was a condition that had been with him for many years," Monsignor Cotter allegedly wrote in the letter.

"He feels no such inclination towards the mature female, but towards the little ones only."

He allegedly wrote that McAlinden was satisfied with the Church's plans to move him out of Forster and into Western Australia "because it will afford a good cover-up for his resigning the parish".

"The priest and his own family . . . will not wonder because his desire to go to Geraldton a few years ago was well known," Monsignor Cotter allegedly wrote.

Ms Lonergan told the inquiry: "I can comfortably anticipate that, notwithstanding all that material, McAlinden went on to have contact with children in various locations both within and outside the Maitland-Newcastle diocese and he continued to commit sexual abuse upon some of those children."

All of the claims were first revealed by Newcastle Herald journalist Joanne McCarthy, whose series of investigative articles into the diocese ultimately resulted in Premier Barry O'Farrell announcing the Special Commission of Inquiry.

Ms McCarthy sat quietly in court yesterday as the claims were read publicly. With a slight nod and a smile, she occasionally acknowledged individuals and their families who were seated in the public gallery.

The second stage of the inquiry will be heard in Newcastle for the next three weeks. It will also consider the Church's handling of claims made against convicted paedophile priest James Fletcher.