AUSTRALIA
Northern Star
Sherele Moody | 16th Sep 2016
A VICTIM of a notorious paedophile priest told Cardinal George Pell in 2002 that he had experienced “severe and prolonged sexual abuse”.
The victim’s letter sent to Cardinal Pell when he was archbishop of Sydney was tendered as evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse this week.
The victim describes being abused by Father John Farrell in the 1980s.
Farrell was convicted earlier this year of 62 child abuse offences against 12 victims.
Farrell’s victims made allegations about the priest as far back as 1984 but the Catholic Church allowed him to continue working with young boys until 1992 – the same year the former priest “confessed” to three senior church members to abusing five boys in the Armidale diocese in 1992.
The victim’s letter was sent to Cardinal Pell and the then Armidale bishop Luc Matthys who was Farrell’s superior.
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