AUSTRALIA
Blayney Chronicle
By Catherine Armitage July 24, 2013
One of the Australian Catholic Church’s most prominent and senior figures has admitted he advised other clergy it was a good idea not to take notes of interviews with priests accused of sexual abuse so they couldn’t be successfully used in legal action.
Father Brian Lucas, a frequent media spokesman for the archdiocese of Sydney and general secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference said he had dealt with about 35 accused priests around NSW from 1990 to 1995 when he was part of a team whose job was to confront them and persuade them out of the ministry.
He gave evidence to the NSW government inquiry into alleged police and church cover-ups of sexual abuse by priests in the Hunter Valley that he had persuaded more than 10 of them to leave the ministry.
He said if he had taken notes fairness would have required that he check them with the accused for accuracy. Asked whether he had ever done that he said no.
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