AUSTRALIA
The Age
August 18, 2012
Richard Baker and Rory Callinan
EXCLUSIVE
A SECRET police bugging operation caught a senior Catholic figure on tape saying it was not up to him to report a paedophile priest and encouraging a victim not to go to authorities for fear of bad publicity.
Abuse victim Peter Murphy has told The Saturday Age he was wired up by police to record a meeting between the church leader and victims as part of a 1994 investigation into Melbourne-based paedophile priest Father Peter Chalk.
Mr Murphy, who has been abused by Chalk, said the meeting was with the head of Chalk’s order, Father Brian Gallagher, and the victims to discuss what the church was doing about the allegations.
News of the existence of the secret tapes comes as the church faces serious allegations in New South Wales and Victoria of failing to help bring paedophile priests to justice and as a parliamentary inquiry into criminal abuse of children by religious orders and other organisations gets under way in Victoria.
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