Retired Rockhampton Bishop Brian Heenan Knew about at Least One Sexually Abusive Priest in His Parish
news.com.au
RETIRED Rockhampton Bishop Brian Heenan knew about at least one sexually abusive priest who had worked in his parish as early as 1994. But he had no training on how to handle child sex abuse allegations when he was made Bishop in 1991. Bishop Heenan has appeared as a witness at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Rockhampton, answering questions on the Church’s responses to the abuse allegations at St Joseph’s Orphanage at Neerkol west of the city. Counsel Assisting Sophie David, SC, asked Bishop Heenan whether, prior to becoming Bishop in 1991, he had any training in how to handle allegations of child sexual abuse related to the church. “No specific training, no,’’ he said.
Bishop Heenan said he did not respond to allegations about abuse first raised in the mid 1990s, nor did he read a book detailing the allegations. “I was still wondering whether this was all true,’’ he said. “I should have read that book, I should have made the contact, it might have helped me.’’ In February 1994 a victim known as AYB told Bishop Heenan that Father Reginald Durham was sexually abusing her. Ms David asked whether Bishop Heenan agreed that he knew about the abuse by Father Durham in February 1994. “Yes,’’ Bishop Heenan said. Bishop Brian Heenan was ordained in 1962 and was in charge of the Rockhampton diocese from 1991 until he retired in 2013. After the first Neerkol allegations were raised in Parliament in 1996 Bihop Heenan circulated a letter in his parishes, refuting the allegations of abuse as “scurrilous” and “scandalous”. He later apologised to abuse victims when he became aware of the full extent and truth of the allegations. The hearing continues.
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