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Late paedophile priest James Patrick Fletcher’s crime ...
By Andrew Dowdell
Late paedophile priest James Patrick Fletcher’s crime continue to hurt Catholic Church PAEDOPHILE priest James Patrick Fletcher died in prison in 2006 — but the ghosts of his depraved crimes continue to haunt the Catholic Church. Fletcher, known to his trusting congregation as Father Jim, was finally outed as a depraved and calculating paedophile when he was jailed for molesting an altar boy in the early 1990s. The disgraced priest died while serving his sentence, but revelations in the past decade have shown his offending stretched back to at least the 1970s. Fletcher’s housemate at the Maitland-Newcastle diocese was a young priest by the name of Philip Wilson — now the Archbishop of Adelaide. Archbishop Wilson’s alleged involvement in turning a blind eye to or covering up Fletcher’s heinous crimes was the subject of a special inquiry and on Tuesday resulted in a criminal charge. One of Fletcher’s victims, who was abused in the house the priest shared with the now archbishop, has previously said he cannot accept that Archbishop Wilson did not know what was going on. The man has said Archbishop Wilson saw him coming and going from the Maitland house, where he suffered abuse in Fletcher’s bedroom during afternoons and after school. He later challenged Archbishop Wilson about what he knew and whether he should have intervened, but said the decorated priest believed Fletcher was a good bloke who he had no reason to suspect as a paedophile. The victim took his complaint to NSW Police in 2010 and the matter was taken up by Strike Force Lantle, established to investigate separate cover-up allegations about a different priest. The charge against Archbishop Wilson represents the first major development for the strike force. Despite the apparent brazen nature of Fletcher’s offending, nobody reported him as a deviant until Newcastle man Daniel Feenan went to police over his abuse in the late ’80s and early ’90s. Mr Feenan’s mother Patricia wrote a book titled Holy Hell: A Catholic family’s story of faith betrayal and pain, which outlined her family’s struggle to force the church to address the problem of child sex abuse. Mrs Feenan provided an insight into Fletcher’s cunning and depraved methods, saying that he “groomed the whole family” by portraying himself as a kind and benevolent priest who could be trusted. Fletcher’s true character could not have been further from his public persona. After abusing Daniel Feenan, Fletcher pulled classic lines from the paedophile playbook, such as threatening to hurt his brothers if he ever revealed the truth. Fletcher also told the teenager that nobody would ever believe him anyway, because “priests never lie”. Despite his public disgrace, the Catholic Church continued to support Fletcher, even in death. The 65-year-old was buried in the priests’ section of Sandgate Cemetery near Newcastle, with a marble headstone celebrating his achievements. The honours outraged Fletcher’s victims, who described the elaborate burial plot as a “final insult”. The funeral was attended by more than 30 fellow Catholic priests, who turned up to farewell Fletcher despite knowing of his crimes. After his death, a group of church supporters raised money to fight a High Court appeal against Fletcher’s conviction, further angering victims. The criminal charge against Archbishop Wilson will inevitably catapult the issue of child sex cover-ups back onto the national spotlight. What, if anything, Archbishop Wilson knew about Fletcher’s depravity will be drilled into by NSW prosecutors in the coming year. The Archbishop fervently denies any wrongdoing and intends to defend the charge. Only time will tell what impact the latest development will have on his legacy and the reputation of the Australian Catholic Church. Colin James: The Philip Wilson I know
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