After an Australia-wide career, this priest awaits a court sentence in one State

Broken Rites
October 8, 2014

http://brokenrites.org.au/drupal/node/203

Catholic priest Father Glenn Humphreys, 61, who has ministered around Australia, is about to be sentenced by a judge for crimes committed in Western Australia. Father Humphreys has also ministered in New South Wales (at St Stanislaus College, Bathurst) and in north Queensland but the current sentencing is confined to West Australian matters.

Father Humphreys is a member of the Australia-wide Catholic order of Vincentian Fathers, which has its national headquarters in Sydney.

Father Humphreys moved to Perth in January 1983 after working on the staff of St Stanislaus College, Bathurst, New Souh Wales.

On 21 August 2014, Father Humphreys was found guilty by a West Australian jury of sexually abusing a teenage boy on church property in Western Australia between 1983 and 1986 while he was assistant priest at a church in Perth.

After six hours of deliberation, a W.A. District Court jury convicted Humphreys of four counts of unlawful and indecent assault.

The court was told Humphreys had assaulted the boy in the church's presbytery and in a bathroom at a nearby primary school.

He admitted having an "inappropriate" sexual relationship with the boy but claimed that their actions were consensual.

Giving evidence, Humphreys said he accepted that he took advantage of a vulnerable young person.

He admitted that he started to feel a sexual attraction to the boy in the second half of 1985, shortly before he took him away for a holiday.

"It didn't dawn on me at the time that there was anything unusual with that," he said.

"It was only a little break from the parish, that's all."

His victim, now aged 45, now lives overseas but came back to Australia to give evidence. The victim told the court that the abuse left him confused and shocked, describing some of the incidents as "highly traumatising".

Two men who were allegedly abused by Humphreys in New South Wales (at St Stanislaus College, Bathurst) in the mid-1970s and early 1980s gave evidence during the West Australian trial, speaking by video link from NSW. The men testified that Humphreys would put on music, often by his favourite artist Barbra Streisand, before touching them inappropriately. [However, the charges in the W.A. court were confined to incidents that occurred in W.A.; any NSW matters must be handled by a NSW court.]

In 2012, after the West Australian victim revealed the abuse, FatherHumphreys sent this victim a letter of apology and asked for his forgiveness.

Prosecutor James Mactaggart said Humphreys blatantly abused his position of trust.

Humphreys is scheduled to appear again in court in mid-October 2014 for sentence proceedings.

Fr Glenn Humphreys (born 6 July 1953)  is a member of a Catholic religious order, the Congregation of the Mission (also called the Vincentian Fathers). This order has various addresses around Australia. including:

• St STANISLAUS College, Bathurst, New South Wales. ("Rev. G. Humphreys CM" was listed at this address in the 1979 edition of the Directory of Australian Catholic Clergy.)
• SYDNEY: Rev. G. Humphreys has been listed at various times at the Vincentian Community in Eastwood, as well as St Anthony's parish in Marsfield and St Vincent's parish in Ashfield.
• WESTERN AUSTRALIA: St Vincent's parish in Kwinana, Perth.
• QUEENSLAND: The final ten years of Fr Glen Humphreys' career was spent ministering in the diocese of Townsville in north Queensland.

In 2002 Father Humphreys went on loan from the Vincentian order to the Townsville diocese in north Queensland after the Vincentian national headquarters in Sydney provided a Letter of Clearance to Townsville Bishop Michael Putney. A Letter of Clearance is provided by a church superior following a check (made by the church) of any criminal history or complaints.

In 2002, he was listed as ministering in Kirwan, a suburb of the city of Townsville. After that, he was appointed to the Sacred Heart Cathedral parish in Townsville, where he became the administrator, running the cathedral parish on behalf of the bishop.

A second letter from the Vincentian national headquarters in 2008 gave the same assurances that Humphreys’ record was clear.

In mid-2011 the church authorities withdrew Father Humphreys from Townsville. After that, according to the annual Australian Catholic Directory, Fr Glenn Humphreys, CM, was based at a Vincentian house in Marsfield, Sydney, while police were investigating allegations about sexual abuse involving Father Humphreys.