Bishop Admits to Not Examining Abuse Files

By Paul Maguire
7 News
July 11, 2013

http://au.news.yahoo.com/vic/latest/a/-/article/17959119/bishop-admits-to-not-examining-abuse-files/

A retired Catholic bishop has admitted that he found the area of child abuse so distasteful that he didn't look at the files of priests under his care.

One of the files was so big that Bishop Michael Malone couldn't jump over it, he told the special NSW government commission of inquiry.

The former Maitland-Newcastle bishop appeared before the inquiry for a second day of evidence on Thursday.

Barrister assisting the commission, Julia Lonergan SC, asked the bishop why he didn't think child protection was his responsibility from 1995, when he started in his Hunter Valley diocese, to 2004, when he first took some action.

"I wasn't fully aware of the extent of the issue, I was on a sharp learning curve," he replied.

She then asked why he didn't report to police Fr Denis McAlinden, whom he knew had admitted to pedophilia to a senior priest.

"I was acting under a presumption that (the two victims) were the only ones and Bishop (Leo) Clarke told me they did not want to go to police."

Ms Lonergan then asked: "It was not that you dismissed going to police, you didn't think about it?"

"Correct," Bishop Malone replied.

The inquiry before commissioner Margaret Cunneen in the Newcastle Supreme Court is examining how the church leaders and police handled child sexual abuse allegations against Fr McAlinden and another priest, James Fletcher.

Bishop Malone was appointed in 1995 and retired in 2011, largely because of the pressure of dealing with a succession of child sexual abuse by clergy in his diocese.

Although he knew of confidential files on abuse by diocesan clergy, some of which were in his own office, Bishop Malone said he never thoroughly examined any of them.

"I did not look for any corroborating evidence (against McAlinden)," he said.

Asked why, he replied: "The whole area (of child abuse by clergy) is so distasteful to me."

The gravity of what was going on did not strike the bishop until 2004 when there was an investigation by the NSW Ombudsman into allegations of abuse by Hunter Valley clergy.

"That's when I saw I was not adequately handing these matters," he said.

"I think that was the time the lights went on for me."

The commission continues with Bishop Malone giving evidence.