Inquiry Finds Church Personnel Covered up Abuse for Decades

ABC News
May 30, 2014

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-30/inquiry-finds-church-personnel-covered-up-abuse/5490676?section=nsw

[with audio]

MARK COLVIN: The special commission of inquiry's damning findings aren't limited to detective chief inspector Peter Fox.

Commissioner Cunneen says that for decades, senior officials within the Catholic Church knew about the sexual abuse allegations but failed to act.

The commissioner has been highly critical of witnesses from the Church, saying they were misleading or simply reluctant to give evidence.

But support groups for victims worry that the findings against Peter Fox will bury the fact that the Church covered up the abuse for decades.

Thomas Oriti reports.

THOMAS ORITI: Catholic priests James Fletcher and Denis McAlinden are now dead, leaving behind a history of sexual abuse dating back decades.

And as the Church works to mend its reputation during a damning royal commission, the findings are another blow.

From the start, the special commission of inquiry was told about a troubled history within the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese in New South Wales.

Denis McAlinden has been described as a "chronic paedophile offender," with allegations against him as early as 1949. The latest was in 1996.

Commissioner Margaret Cunneen says the head of the Diocese between 1976 and 1995, Bishop Leo Clarke, knew what McAlinden was doing.

MARGARET CUNNEEN (voiceover): Throughout the 20 years he was bishop, Clarke failed to report McAlinden to the police or to any Church outsiders. A motivating factor in this failure was concern that such reporting would bring scandal on the Church.

THOMAS ORITI: In her findings, Margaret Cunneen says the period of inaction allowed McAlinden to sexually abuse children for another 20 years.

James Fletcher abused boys over a number of months, and often years, during the same period.

Bishop Leo Clarke died in 2006, but he was interviewed by Peter Fox three years earlier.

MARGARET CUNNEEN (voiceover): When detective chief inspector Fox interviewed him, Clarke had information in relation to a number of past allegations that would have been of material interest to police, but he did not provide that information to Fox.

THOMAS ORITI: She described Leo Clarke's conduct as inexcusable and didn't stop with him.

Monsignor Patrick Cotter was the interim head of the Diocese before bishop Clarke, and also failed to pass information on to police.

The findings state he sought to cover up why Denis McAlinden had resigned from the Foster-Tuncurry Parish, where complaints were made about sexually inappropriate conduct with children.

A witness at the inquiry, Monsignor Allan Hart, was the vicar-general of the Diocese in the 1990s and remains a priest there.

Margaret Cunneen says his evidence was misleading.

MARGARET CUNNEEN (voiceover): Hart gave inconsistent evidence on the question of whether he had had discussions with bishop Leo Clarke about the allegations Father Denis McAlinden had sexually abused children.

Initially saying there had not been "one word" of discussion on that matter, he subsequently varied his evidence to concede there had been at least one discussion and later said there were probably two or three.

The commission formed the view that Hart was in fact reluctant to disclose the true extent of his discussions with Clarke in relation to this.

THOMAS ORITI: She described Monsignor Hart as an unsatisfactory and unimpressive witness.

Former vicar-general, Father William Burston, was also accused of being reluctant to fully answer questions by saying he couldn't recollect the details.

And a former secretary of the Sydney Archdiocese, Father Brian Lucas, failed to have proper regard to the protection of children.

Nicky Davis from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests is concerned the culture of cover-up will be largely ignored.

NICKY DAVIS: That is the real story. And I think that the smearing of the reputation of Peter Fox is a distraction from the fact that the evidence about the Church officials that has been uncovered is absolutely appalling. It's no surprise to survivors because this is our personal experience. Every single case that I am aware of involves a cover-up by Church officials.

THOMAS ORITI: The damning findings don't stop with this public report.

Nicky Davis hopes the confidential section containing details about potential criminal proceedings will lead to results.

NICKY DAVIS: It was frustrating that part of the hearing process was kept confidential as well, but if charges are a result that comes from that, I think it's a price that I personally am prepared to pay to have some of that information confidential.

THOMAS ORITI: But she's highly critical of the special commission of inquiry, saying the New South Wales Government was simply trying to punish a whistleblower.

NICKY DAVIS: It would appear to me that if Peter Fox had said to the inquiry "the sky is blue", the inquiry would've found that Peter Fox's allegation is not supported.

MARK COLVIN: Nicky Davis, from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, ending that report from Thomas Oriti.