A Jesuit Priest Pleads Guilty to Offences against Children

Broken Rites
May 4, 2014

http://brokenrites.org.au/drupal/node/290

A Catholic priest in the Jesuit Order, Father David Rankin (now aged 79), is pleading guilty to historical acts of indecency on young boys in Sydney. The offences occurred in the 1960s when Rankin was a lay teacher before he joined the priesthood.

On 30 April 2014, Father Rankin (full name Gregory David Rankin) appeared in Sydney's Downing Centre District Court for pre-sentence proceedings. He confirmed his guilty plea.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on a later date.

According to court documents, David Rankin was a lay teacher at Northbridge Primary School in northern Sydney when he committed 11 acts of indecency on three boys in the 1960s.

The court documents said Rankin molested one boy after volunteering to tutor the 11-year-old after school in late 1963. The abuse continued at tri-weekly tutoring sessions the following year.

On one occasion, Rankin drove the boy to another school in Manly to commit an assault.

Rankin told the victim he loved him and gave him money on a number of occasions.

He swore the boy to secrecy, warning that he and the boy would both “get into big trouble” if the incidents were discovered.

About the same time, the offender molested two other boys during rehearsals for school musicals.

Both of those victims gave statements to police in 2012, leading to Rankin’s arrest.

The other victim told a number of family members of the abuse, but did not report it to police until 2009.

Footnote

Gregory David Rankin joined the Jesuits as a mature-age entrant in the early 1970s. The Jesuits are an Australia-wide organisation. In the Australian Catholic Directory, Reverend David Rankin, SJ, has been listed at Jesuit addresses in Melbourne (at the Jesuits' parish in Hawthorn), Sydney and Canberra. In some years he has been listed as living overseas (it is believed that his overseas locations included Canada and London).

According to a newspaper report, Father David Rankin spent some years in Canberra, most recently as a hospital chaplain.

In 2010, aged in his seventies, David Rankin was reported to be living in a Jesuit house in Canberra. On 13 October 2010 a Jesuit newsletter published this news item (under the heading "A trinity of jubilees"):

"On Sunday October 10 [in 2010], John Eddy, Frank Brennan and David Rankin celebrated significant anniversaries at the Jesuit residence in Yarralumla, Canberra.

"John Eddy, the doyen of the community who has spent most of his life as a Jesuit at the Australian National University in Canberra, celebrated his sixtieth anniversary as a Jesuit. David Rankin celebrated his fortieth anniversary as a Jesuit. Frank Brennan celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of his ordination as a Priest.

"Special guests at the celebrations included Australian Jesuit Provincial Fr Steve Curtin and the former Australian Prime Minister, Hon Kevin Rudd MP.

"The afternoon tea also offered guests the opportunity to see the renovations at the Yarralumla residence, which will enhance its value as a centre of ministry."

In April 2014, the Jesuits' Australian provincial-superior (Father Steve Curtin) told the media that David Rankin was removed from active ministry after the Jesuits learned of charges against him when he was arrested in August 2012.

Fr Curtin said David Rankin moved to a Jesuit community in Victoria where he is under supervision in compliance with his bail conditions.

In the mid-2013 edition of the Australian Catholic Directory, the Jesuit listings included: