Archbishop Philip Wilson Allegedly Concealed Priest’s Abuse

By Dan Box
The Australian
May 8, 2015

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The Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide allegedly concealed child abuse while he was in office, failing to reveal his knowledge of abuse committed by a priest before the abuser died, a court has heard.

Archbishop Philip Wilson did not appear in Newcastle Local Court yesterday for the first hearing in the case since he was charged in March. His lawyer entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf.

Court documents show police allege he concealed the sexual assault of a 10-year-old boy by Hunter Valley priest Jim Fletcher in 1971, which took place in the Maitland area of NSW, where Fletcher and Archbishop Wilson worked as priests and lived together during the late 1970s and early 80s.

The documents allege Archbishop Wilson concealed Fletcher’s abuse from April 2004, three years after his appointment as archbishop, to January 7, 2006, the day Fletcher died. In May 2006, Archbishop Wilson was elected president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, making him one of the most senior clerics in the country. He remains the organisation’s vice-president, although on indefinite leave since being charged.

In December 2004, Fletcher was found guilty of raping and sexually abusing another teenage boy, and was jailed for 10 years. Police allege Archbishop Wilson knew “he had information which might be of material assistance to the prosecution” of Fletcher for the 1971 abuse but failed “without reasonable excuse” to provide that to detectives.