Sleeping with Boys Was "Common Practice': Royal Commission on Sex Abuse in Wollongong, Day 3

By Rachel Browne
Sydney Morning Herald
June 26, 2014

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/sleeping-with-boys-was-common-practice-royal-commission-on-sex-abuse-in-wollongong-day-3-20140626-zsm3m.html

A disgraced clergyman claimed it was ''common practice'' for priests to sleep with boys when he was under investigation by Catholic Church assessors as part of the Towards Healing process.

The Royal Commission on Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard that defrocked Wollongong priest John Nestor denied that sharing a bed with teenage boys was inappropriate.

Mr Nestor was convicted of sexually molesting a 15-year-old altar boy in 1996 but later acquitted on appeal. He is not expected to appear at the hearing, which is examining how the Catholic Church deals with cases in which convictions have not been made against priests accused of wrongdoing.

In a 1998 letter read out to the royal commission on Wednesday, Mr Nestor told Catholic Church investigators he had done nothing wrong by sharing a bed with the boys.

''I deny inappropriate behaviour, in the circumstances,'' he wrote.

''This allegation must be considered in the context of common practice of other priests at the time.''

Royal commission chair Justice Peter McClellan asked Mr Nestor’s former canonical advocate, Rev Dr Kevin Matthews, whether such behaviour was indeed common.

''I had no experience of that at all,'' he replied.

Rev Dr Matthews, who has a doctorate in canon law, provided legal advice to Mr Nestor, who had been stood down from the ministry in the wake of a number of serious claims about sexual misconduct with boys.

He initially questioned whether the investigation was a ''witch hunt'' and said it was causing ''psychological damage'' to Mr Nestor, who believed there was a conspiracy to discredit him.

Unanderra parish priest Father Mark O’Keefe, an initial supporter of Mr Nestor's, said he first heard stories about the former priest’s questionable behaviour with boys on summer camps as early as 1988 but took no formal action.

He told the royal commission that his views towards Mr Nestor had changed and the police are better placed to investigate criminal matters involving clergy than the church.

''I’ve tried to refer people – if I felt that there was any criminal content – I’ve tried to refer them to the police as quickly as possible,'' he said.

''I’ve got more confidence in the police’s investigative abilities than that of the church.''

Bishop of Wollongong Peter Ingham told the royal commission he would have resigned if Mr Nestor had been permitted to continue in the ministry.

''You couldn’t live with your conscience, could you?'' he said.

He said that until recently many in the clergy and the general community would not believe that priests would molest children.

''It was probably one of those unmentionables,'' he said.

The hearing continues.