Bishop sidesteps abuse claims

By Mark Schliebs
Australian
March 26, 2014

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/in-depth/bishop-sidesteps-abuse-claims/story-fngburq5-1226864722776#

CATHOLIC Archbishop of Adelaide Philip Wilson did not refer to his dealings with abuse allegations at the diocese of Maitland-Newcastle at a royal commission because he only wanted to detail his work as a bishop, the church says.

During the final day of a public hearing in Adelaide on Monday, Archbishop Wilson had a long witness statement tendered to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that outlined his involvement in dealing with such allegations.

He said in the statement that he began implementing the church’s Towards Healing processes soon after being appointed Bishop of Wollongong in 1996, and was a member of a bishops’ professional standards committee. He also said he was prepared to resign as bishop in 2001 if the Pope allowed a priest acquitted of child sexual abuse charges to continue his service with the church.

But only four paragraphs in the 22-page statement mention his time at the diocese of Maitland-Newcastle in NSW, with no mention of any abuse allegations from that region. The NSW special commission of inquiry into child abuse received evidence that identified him as one of several subjects of a police investigation into the alleged cover-up of crimes committed by serial pedophile priest Denis McAlinden.