AUSTRALIA
The Age
June 25, 2014
Tom McIlroy
Legislative Assembly reporter at The Canberra Times
A Canberra priest has defended his role in investigating allegations of child sexual abuse inside the Catholic Church, amid criticism of his decision not to keep records.
Last week, former NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell accused Father Brian Lucas, the secretary of the Australian National Catholic Bishops Conference, and another priest of being responsible for “criminal inaction”.
Mr O’Farrell called for the leaders of the church in Australia to remove Father Lucas.
The Canberra-based priest, who is also a trained lawyer, has answered questions in two inquiries about his involvement in handling of abuse claims dating back to the late 1980s.
This month Father Lucas told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse sitting in Canberra he kept no notes of a 1993 meeting with serial paedophile Brother Kostka Chute.
Giving evidence to the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry in the Hunter region, Father Lucas said he conducted as many as 35 interviews with accused priests, and sought to convince them to resign from public ministry or work with children.
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