AUSTRALIA
The Australian
DAN BOX From: The Australian July 12, 2013
A CATHOLIC bishop has said he attempted to “play down” allegations his priests were sexually abusing children and did not fully cooperate with police for years in an attempt to defend the church.
Giving evidence to the NSW special commission of inquiry this morning, the former Bishop of Maitland-Newcastle, Michael Malone, said “there is a tendency to want to defend the organisation to which you belong.
“These issues of sexual abuse were impinging on the stability of the church. I regretted that and in my early time (as bishop) tried to prevent that causing damage … by trying to play it down a little.”
Asked if he had always assisted police, Bishop Malone said: “Certainly in latter years I have. In those early years, as the matters were first beginning to surface, it wasn’t an easy thing to do.”
When NSW Police asked his office for information about one priest, Denis McAlinden, in 2002, the inquiry heard they were given two addresses in the UK, despite Bishop Malone believing him to be living in Western Australia at the time.
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