AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times
July 25, 2013
Catherine Armitage
Senior Writer
Father Brian Lucas agreed that studying law taught the discipline of good note-taking.
But despite being a non-practising barrister with a fistful of law qualifications, the senior figure within the Catholic Church on Wednesday told an inquiry into sexual abuse he never made notes when dealing with about 35 priests accused of sex crimes.
The inquiry also heard that Father Brian wrote advice for clergy that it was a good idea not to take notes during interviews with accused priests to avoid the material being exposed during any ”subsequent legal process”.
Asked repeatedly about his own practice of not taking notes, Father Brian insisted it could be ”unproductive” because the priest would stop speaking with him.
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