Updated: Senior Priest Aware of McAlinden Rumours in Late 1980s

By Ian Kirkwood
Newcastle Herald
July 17, 2013

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/1643881/updated-senior-priest-aware-of-mcalinden-rumours-in-late-1980s/?cs=303

RECALL: Father James Joseph Saunders outside Newcastle Court House this morning.

FILE SHOT: Denis McAlinden

A SENIOR diocese priest says he cannot independently recall saying that he wanted ‘‘to contain as much as possible’’  an allegation against then priest Jim Fletcher.

Father James Joseph Saunders, who held various positions under Bishop Leo Clarke and his successor Bishop Michael Malone, was giving evidence to the special commission of inquiry in Newcastle on Wednesday.

The commission heard from counsel assisting, Warwick Hunt, of an internal church email that included quotes attributed to Father Saunders, in relation to a ‘‘new allegation’’ against Fletcher, who was eventually convicted of child sexual abuse offences and died in jail.

Commissioner Margaret Cunneen asked Father Saunders whether, as the email said, he wanted to contain the matter as much as possible and preferred not to provide even a dot-point report  at this time.

Father Saunders said he had no ‘‘independent memory’’ of the meeting.

Answering a question by Mark Cohen, counsel for whistleblowing police officer Peter Fox, Father Saunders said the reference was to providing extra information to the Catholic Commission for Employment Relations, which at the time was in charge of handling allegations of sexual crimes by priests.

Asked by Mr Cohen whether there was a ‘‘culture of disinformation’’ or of not providing information about ‘‘sexual offences by priests’’, Father Saunders said: ‘‘I couldn’t say there was but I would have to reflect on that answer.’’

He said that if he wanted to disclose as little as possible it was to let the police get on with their investigations because there had been ‘‘trouble’’ after he and Bishop Malone went to see Fletcher.

In that light, it was better to err on the side that ‘‘less is better than more’’.

 Earlier, the semi-retired Father Saunders said he first met McAlinden when he, Father Saunders, was 13 or 14 years old and living near Raymond Terrace.

He briefly shared a parish with McAlinden in 1977 at Belmont North.

Father Saunders was taken to the minutes of a 1986 meeting of the bishop’s consulters, which included what Mr Hunt described as an "oblique" reference to McAlinden.

Items about other priests were, by contrast, fairly detailed.

Father Saunders said he could not recall the details but he acknowledged that there were rumours in the late 1980s about "McAlinden and kids".

He said he spoke with a Catholic school principal school who had concerns about McAlinden.

But he could not recall now whether those concerns were of the time or whether they were historical.

He did not recall being asked by Bishop Malone to help to try to find McAlinden in Western Australia.

He said it was the sort of thing he would recall because it would have been " a bit out of the ordinary".

Father Saunders said he recalled a briefing in general terms about Father Fletcher from the time he became Bishop Malone’s vicar general in 2001.

He confirmed driving to Branxton with  Bishop Malone after victim AH had made his complaint.

Father Saunders agreed with Mr Hunt that Bishop Malone had said words to the effect of: "If I was under investigation I would like to know."

He thought it was plausible that Bishop Malone could have been trying to extract the confession from Fletcher.

The hearing continues.