AUSTRALIA
7 News
Miranda Forster – AAP on September 13, 2016
A NSW priest has admitted he supported disgraced ex-priest John Farrell by keeping quiet about sex abuse allegations, conceding he felt no obligation to protect child parishioners.
Armidale priest Bernard Flood worked alongside Farrell at the Moree parish in northern NSW in the early 1980s when a number of complaints about Farrell abusing boys surfaced.
Fronting the child sex abuse royal commission on Tuesday, Father Flood admitted he’d remained friendly with Farrell after the allegations surfaced, saying he’d wanted to help get the wayward priest back on track.
When Farrell was moved to another parish at Tamworth, Fr Flood didn’t tell the priest in charge about the abuse allegations due to “professional boundaries”.
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