Priest Freed of Vow of Secrecy

Newcastle Herald
March 13, 2014

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/2149363/priest-freed-of-vow-of-secrecy/?cs=12

A SENIOR Catholic official had to be released from a vow of secrecy before he could freely give evidence to the royal commission into child sexual abuse.

Monsignor Brian Rayner was chancellor and vicar-general in the Archdiocese of Sydney when John Ellis sought redress for abuse he suffered when he was an altar boy at Bass Hill, in Sydney, between 1974 and 1979.

Monsignor Rayner told counsel assisting the commission, Gail Furness SC, that he had gone to the papal nuncio to be released from a vow of secrecy he took when he held the chancellor's position in Sydney.

The nuncio, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Pope's diplomat in Australia, is based in Canberra.

Monsignor Rayner said the nuncio advised him to give "whatever evidence was required by the royal commission". Had he not spoken to the nuncio, he would have been in a dilemma as to what would be appropriate to reveal and "perhaps what should be kept private".

Monsignor Rayner, who is now parish priest at Gymea, said for two years he was Archbishop Pell's second-in-command in administrative matters.

Earlier yesterday, the commission heard that Monsignor Rayner played a central role in the internal church process for abuse victims in the case of Mr Ellis.

He was central to negotiating a financial offer to Mr Ellis, who rejected $30,000 because it came with the requirement that he sign a deed of release.

Mr Ellis lost his litigation when the court ruled the church was not a legal entity that could be sued and Archbishop Pell could not be sued because he was not in charge at the time of the abuse.

The commission has heard that when the case came to court, the Sydney Archdiocese disputed whether sexual abuse had occurred.

Yesterday, Raymond Brazil, who facilitated the church mediation attended by Monsignor Rayner and Mr Ellis and his wife, Nicola, in 2003 said he understood the church authority had accepted Mr Ellis's claim abuse had occurred.

The commission heard Mrs Ellis had taken notes of that meeting and recorded that the Monsignor said "he never had any reason to doubt what JAE [John Andrew Ellis] has said".

Mr Brazil said his "own notes from the time recorded a similar comment".

Mr Ellis has said when the Towards Healing process failed, the Melbourne law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth disputed the fact sexual abuse had ever happened.

One of the issues the commission is investigating is why the church denied the abuse after initially accepting it occurred.